SMITHSONIAN  MISCELLANEOUS  COLLECTIONS 

VOLUME  59,  NUMBER  19 


EARLY  NORSE  VISITS  TO  NORTH  AMERICA 

WITH  TEN  PLATES 


BY 

WILLIAM  H.  BABCOCK 
V\ 


(PUBLICATION  2138) 


CITY  OF  WASHINGTON 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  SMITHSONIAN  INSTITUTION 
1913 


E 


EARTH 
SCIENCES 
LIBRARY 


Borfc 

BALTIMORE,  MD.,  U.  S.  A. 


GEGGftA-PH 


CONTENTS  PAGE 

1.  The  New  World  Prelude I 

2.  The  Old  World  Prelude 7 

3.  The  Mythical  Islands  of  the  Atlantic 16 

4.  The  Problem  of  Great  Ireland 26 

5.  The  Colonization  of  Greenland 30 

6.  The  Voyages  of  Madoc  and  the  Zeno  Brothers 35 

7.  Are  There  Norse  Relics  in  North  America  ? 43 

8.  Certain  Collateral  Items  of  Evidence 54 

9.  The  Three  Sagas  and  Their  Relative  Status 64 

10.  The  Most  Authentic  Wineland  History 76 

11.  The  Story  of  the  First  American  Mother 81 

12.  Leif  and  His  Voyages 87 

13.  With  Thorfinn  and  Gudrid  to  the  Bay  of  Fundy 96 

14.  Their  Wineland  Voyage  Interpreted 106 

15.  The  Expedition  to  Hop 124 

16.  Concerning  the  Natives 139 

17.  Review  of  Dr.  Nansen's  Conclusions 159 

18.  General  Survey 169 

Notes 1 76 

Partial  Bibliography 179 

Index 191 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATES  FACE  PAGE 

1-2.     Parts  of  Map  of  Pizigani  Brothers,  1367 16 

3.  Part  of  Catalan  Map,  1375 16 

4.  Part  of  Map  of  Battista  Beccaria,  1435 16 

5.  Part  of  Map  of  Matheus  Prunes,  1553 22 

6.  Map  of  Sigtirdr  Stefansson,  1570. 62 

7-8.     The  Gokstad  Ship 100 

9.  Route  Map  of  Thorfinn  Karlsefni's  Expedition 106 

10.  Map  of  Mount  Hope  Bay 136 


in 


991016 


EARLY  NORSE  VISITS  TO  NORTH  AMERICA. 
BY  WILLIAM  H.  BABCCCK     . 
(WITH  TEN  PLATED)  , 

In  the  rather  long  continued  labor  of  preparing  this  monograph,  the 
author  has  had  occasion  to  recognize  gratefully  the  kindly  willingness 
of  scientific  men  and  of  scholars  generally  to  extend  a  helping  hand. 
He  would  especially  mention  the  philological  assistance  of  Mr.  Juul 
Dieserud  and  his  patient  oral  translation  of  the  writings  of  Dr.Nansen 
and  others  before  their  appearance  in  English ;  the  helpful  criticism 
of  my  manuscript  by  Prof.  Julius  E.  Olson ;  the  explanation  by  the 
late  Dr.  W  J  McGee  of  the  observed  progressive  changes  of  level 
along  our  seaboard  by  glacial  recession  and  resultant  continuing 
crustal  wave  action — a  theory  since  corroborated  by  other  authorities 
—which  affords  a  reasonably  trustworthy  conception  of  the  American 
Atlantic  coast  line  and  its  conditions  about  the  year  1000  A.  D.,  and 
thus  throws  new  light  on  the  regions  and  special  places  intended  by 
the  names  in  the  saga ;  the  efficient  aid  of  Mr.  James  Mooney  in  Gaelic 
and  Indian  problems ;  and  the  sympathetic  interest  of  Mr.  David 
Hutcheson  who  has  furnished  a  copious  supply  of  data  on  the  subject 
supplemented  by  some  personal  field-work  near  one  possible  Hop  of 
the  Norsemen. 

i.— THE  NEW  WORLD  PRELUDE 

Concerning  the  discovery  of  America  before  Columbus,  there 
are  many  theories,  fancies,  and  claims ;  but  only  two  visits  can  be 
considered  historic,  namely,  those  of  Leif  Ericsson  and  Thorfmn 
Karlsefni.  The  Wineland  or  Vinland  of  these  explorers  has  been 
so  greatly  misunderstood  and  has  been  made  the  basis  of  so  much 
elaborate  and  contradictory  explanation  during  the  past  three  cen- 
turies that  only  the  hope  of  clearing  matters  a  little  by  patient  research 
would  perhaps  justify  one  in  adding  to  its  volume.  The  importance 

SMITHSONIAN  MISCELLANEOUS  COLLECTIONS,  VOL.  59,  No.  19 


2  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    S9 

and  permanent  interest  of  the  topic  really  demand  the  careful  applica- 
tion of  every  available  test. 

Obviously  we  must  aim  to  distinguish  the  true  narrative  from 
less  reliable  accretions  and  competitors.  We  must  also  ascertain  as 
nearly  as  possible  the  condition  of  the  American  shoreline  at  the 
period  to  which  the  statements  of  the  sagas  apply.  These  are  the 
prime  requirements,  and  yet  whatever  else  may  throw  any  light  on 
the  matter  should  not  he  neglected. 

A  preliminary  gl -in re  is  perhaps  needful  at  what  preceded  the 
appearance  of  the  Norsemen  in  the  New  World.  In  a  fundamental 
sense  the  title  "  New  World  "  is  deserved,  for  science  and  the  most 
venerated  writings  agree  in  ascribing  priority  of  human  life  to  the 
other  hemisphere,  though  their  reasons  differ  widely.  Most  anthro- 
pologists believe  that  man  first  walked  over  to  America ; — from  Eu- 
rope as  Dr.  Brinton x  supposed,  from  Asia  as  many  others  have 
claimed — but  in  either  case  the  route  was  at  one,  if  not  both,  of  the 
far  northern  corners  of  the  continent.  The  crossing  is  indeed  occa- 
sionally made  in  winter  at  the  present  day  on  the  ice  at  Bering 
Straits,  as  reported  to  Dr.  Dall,2  and  in  summer  by  boat  almost  at 
will.  However,  no  traces  have  yet  been  discovered  of  such  passage 
from  Iceland  or  any  other  possible  stepping  stone  on  the  eastern 
side.3  But  even  the  earliest  coming,  however  remote,  must  have  been 
rather  late  in  the  history  of  our  race,  an  unarmored,  ill-equipped  off- 
spring of  the  tropics,  which  had  a  long  way  to  travel  by  slow  de- 
grees. The  immigration  may  have  been  in  a  small  way  and  often 
repeated.  Whoever  came  first  to  America,  however,  or  whence  they 
came,  or  when,  we  have  in  the  present  inquiry  to  deal  only  with  the 
Eskimo  and  their  southern  neighbors.  When  Europeans  finally  lifted 
the  Atlantic  curtain,  the  Eskimo  were  found  as  far  south  as  the  upper 
end  of  Newfoundland  ;  they  clung  to  the  sea-shore  almost  everywhere. 

Below  these  Innuit  along  the  coast,  and  behind  their  southeastern 
wing  in  Labrador,  as  well  as  nearly  everywhere  throughout  the 
temperate  parts  of  the  continent,  there  were  other  uncivilized  men 


1  D.  G.  Brinton:  The  American  Race,  (1901),  p.  32. 

2W.  H.  Dall:  The  Origin  of  the  Innuit;  in  The  Tribes  of  the  Extreme 
Northwest,  p.  97. 

3  C.  R.  Markham  :  Origin  and  Migrations  of  the  Greenland  Eskimo ;  in 
Arctic  Papers  for  Expedition  of  1875,  p.  166.  See  also  W.  H.  Holmes :  Some 
Problems  of  the  American  Race.  Amer.  Anthrop.,  vol.  12.  no.  2  (1910),  p.  178 
Cf.  A.  Geike :  Fragments  of  Earth  Lore,  p.  263. 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  3 

in  various  stages  of  development,  whom  we  habitually  call  Indians 
by  misnomer,  although  "  Amerind  " *  has  won  a  place  in  scientific 
writing.  These,  or  the  dominant  racial  elements  of  them,  appear  to 
have  come  into  North  America  from  the  regions  near  and  behind 
these  natural  crossing-places  above  Japan,  where  tribes  are  yet  found,2 
chiefly  in  mountainous  insulated  or  nearly  insulated  homes  of  refuge, 
so  like  our  wild  native  people  that  we  should  call  them  Indian  without 
question  if  bodily  shifted  here.  Whether  this  eastward  human  wave 
preceded,  followed,  or  accompanied  the  Eskimo  ;  what  their  reciprocal 
action  and  relations  may  have  been  until  the  first  known  distribution 
of  races  and  territory  was  established ;  and  whether  the  tribes  of 
Saghalien  and  Kamchatka  above  referred  to  were  left  behind  or  have 
forced  their  way  through  .the  Eskimo  and  across  the  sea  to  their 
present  seats,3  are  matters  debatable  which  need  not  concern  us  here. 
These  Indians  could  not  have  been  on  the  ground  for  a  very  great 
number  of  centuries  or  the  population  would  have  been  denser,  the 
linguistic  stocks  more  plentiful.  In  the  immense  area  between  the 
Arctic  Ocean,  the  Rocky  Mountains,  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  the 
Atlantic  there  were  barely  a  half  dozen  principal  linguistic  families 4 
— the  Athapascan,  Shoshonean,  Algonquian,  Siouan,  Iroquoian,  and 
Muskog'ean.  These  people,  however,  had  undergone  varied  experi- 
ences ; 5  therefore  they  differed  widely  here  and  there :  yet  they  were 
enough  alike  to  give  us  the  accepted  ideal  Indian  of  our  coinage. 
These  few  vigorous  groups  have  made  nearly  all  of  North  American 
history  on  the  Indian  side. 

The  long  list  of  languages  in  North  America,  so  often  insisted  on, 
include  some  that  appear  to  be  but  of  minor  flecks  and  patches  on 
the  western  border  of  our  linguistic  map,  resembling  nothing  so  much 
as  the  debris  of  waves  that  had  struck  without  force  to  pass  on,  and 
of  human  fragments  in  the  mountain  nooks  above  the  Isthmus.  They 
all  have  their  own  abundant  interest,  but  it  does  not  concern  our 


1  Other  substitutes  will  hardly  do.  Red  Indian,  for  example,  has  meant 
Beothuk  specifically.  Even  American  Indian  means  Passamaquoddy,  but  not 
Micmac,  on  Grand  Manan. 

2C.  H.  Hawes  :  In  the  Uttermost  East,  p.  35.  Cf.  Geo.  Kennan  :  Tent  Life 
in  Siberia,  p.  171.  Also  his  Siberia  and  the  Exile  System  vol.  2,  p.  400;  and 
Mythology  of  the  Koryak  (Jochelson).  Amer.  Anthrop.  (1904),  vol.  6,  p.  413. 

3 A.  F.  Chamberlain:  Origin  of  American  Aborigines. — Linguistics.  Amer. 
Anthrop.  (1912),  vol.  14,  p.  55. 

4  See  map  in  Bulletin  30,  pt.  I,  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology. 

5  See  Notes  to  Chapter  16. 


4  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

present  inquiry ;  nor  does  the  much  debated  problem  of  the  semi- 
civilizations,  extending  in  a  long  line  from  central  Mexico  to  Chile 
down  the  uplands  of  that  front  of  our  double  continent  which  looks 
ever  toward  the  primal  Asian  centers  of  human  culture. 

Excepting  at  or  near  its  narrowest  part,  the  two  sea-shores  of 
North  America  were  as  two  different  worlds.  There  was  never 
anything  even  semi-civilized  along  either  of  these  shores  in  the 
Wineland  latitudes ;  nothing  much  above  stark  savagery  near  that 
portion  of  the  Atlantic  shore,  even  with  a  liberal  inclusion  of  territory 
to  the  southward.  Population  was  indeed  almost  unbelievably  scanty. 
No  other  part  of  that  region  was  quite  so  bountifully  supplied  by 
Nature  as  Powhatan's  domain  near  the  Chesapeake,  yet  Strachey's1 
miniature  census,  river  by  river  and  town  by  town,  has  a  really 
ridiculous,  though  pathetic,  look.  The  best  recent  estimate2  gives 
not  more  than  seventeen  thousand  Indian  inhabitants  to  all  Virginia 
at  that  time,  with  8,500  for  the  Powhatan  Confederacy;  and  there 
may  be  a  thousand  of  mixed  blood  there  now — Chickahominys,  Nanse- 
monds,  Pamunkeys,  Mattaponies  and  other  remnants — hardly  noticed 
at  all.  The  City  of  Washington,  with  its  present  population  of 
350,000,  was  prefigured  by  an  important  Indian  town,  which  in  an 
emergency  could  muster  eighty  fighting  men  for  the  defense  of  the 
finest  shad  and  herring  fisheries  to  be  found  anywhere. 

The  League  of  the  Five  Nations  (central  New  York)  could  hardly 
put  two  thousand  men  into  the  field ;  yet  this  active  little  force  imposed 
terror  on  most  of  the  settlements  between  Hudson  Bay  and  Georgia 
and  between  New  England  and  the  Mississippi.  Along  Narragansett 
Bay  and  slightly  beyond,  the  density  of  population  may  have  been 
somewhat  greater;  but  King  Philip  in  his  most  formidable  estate 
could  never  assemble  any  imposing  array.  A  few  Englishmen  sufficed 
to  storm  and  ruin  the  fortified  chief  towns  of  the  Pequots  and 
Narragansets,  the  most  powerful  tribes  about  them.  The  upper 
New  England  coast  was  far  more  scantily  peopled,  as  clearly  appears 
from  the  slightly  earlier  notes  of  Champlain. 

We  have  no  trustworthy  ground  for  assuming  a  substantially  dif- 
ferent state  of  affairs  for  the  year  1000  A.  D.  along  the  Atlantic  coast, 
although  at  that  time  there  seems  to  have  been  a  relatively  large  and 


*W.  Strachey:  The  Historic  of  Travaile  into  Virginia,  pp.  40  et  seq. 
8J.  Mooney:    The    Powhatan    Confederacy.      Amer.   Anthrop.    (1907),    pp. 
130,  132. 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  5 

advanced  Indian  population1  in  the  Ohio  valley  and  beyond.  These 
"  mound-builders,"  of  debated  tribal  and  linguistic  affiliations,  appear 
to  have  worked  up  the  great  rivers  from  the  south  and  remained  a 
long  time  in  distinct  and  differing  nations  or  communities,  at  last 
withdrawing  or  being  scattered  rather  mysteriously.  It  is  well  known 
that  they  left  great  earthworks  behind  them  and  other  notable 
vestiges ;  but  they  may  not  have  been  known  on  the  seaboard  more 
definitely  than  they  are  to-day. 

The  Athapascan,  Shoshonean,  Muskhogean,  and  other  remote 
stocks  are  clearly  beyond  our  field  of  vision.  Mr.  Lloyd  2  would  put 
the  Iroquois  also  at  the  time  we  are  considering  too  far  away  in  the 
northwest :  but  according  to  Dr.  McGee's  Chesapeake  tidewater  theory 
they  were  much  nearer.3  Still,  no  one  places  them  on  or  near  the  sea- 
board in  northern  latitudes.  The  Sioux  may  have  been  in  force  along 
the  eastern  watershed  of  the  Appalachian  mountains,  where  we  find 
them  later/apparently  losing  ground  ;  but  they  probably  never  crossed 
the  Delaware.  This  narrows  the  field  to  the  Eskimo,  the  Beothuk,  the 
Algonquian  tribes,  and  possible  unknown  predecessors,  for  the  stretch 
of  coast  between  Baffin-Land  and  the  Chesapeake. 

Below  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  we  find  this  shore  occupied  in  the 
early  seventeenth  century,  and  apparently  in  the  fifteenth  and  six- 
teenth, by  different  tribes  of  the  Algonquian  family,  the  Micmac  or 
Souriquois  extending  farthest  to  the  northeast  as  they  do  now.  On 
the  island  of  Newfoundland4  were  the  quite  distinct  and  puzzling 
Beothuk,  doubtfully  struggling  to  hold  their  ground  against  the 
encroachments  of  the  Eskimo  on  the  north  and  of  the  Micmac  on  the 
southwest. 

There  are  some  indications  that  these  islanders  had  previously 
occupied  parts  of  Maine  and  Nova  Scotia.  They  appear  with  the  air 
of  people  in  misfortune,  clinging  to  their  last  refuge  and  sharing  some 
characteristics  of  their  oppressors  on  both  sides.  A  fuller  under- 
standing of  their  earlier  history  might  be  helpful  in  the  solution  of 
divers  northeastern  problems  in  ethnology.  But  there  seems  to  be 
nothing  to  indicate  that  they  ever  established  themselves  far  below  the 


1  N.  S.  Shaler :  Nature  and  Man  in  America,  p.  81. 

2  Lloyd's  notes  in  L.  H.  Morgan's  "The  League  of  the  Iroquois,"  p.  188. 

3  W  J  McGee  :  The  Siouan  Indians,  I5th  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Amer.  Ethnol.   p.  189. 
4D.  G.  Brinton :     The  American  Race  (1901),   p.  67.     Cf.  Capt.  Cartwright 

and  his  Journal.     Repub.    1911.     First  20  pages.     (Ed.  by  C.  W.  Townsend). 
Also  Whitbourne,  Cormack  and  others  hereinafter  cited. 


6  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

Bay  of  Fundy,  and  there  is  nothing  whatever  that  looks  like  an 
Eskimo  extension  southward,  except  a  tool  or  so  and  one  or  two  very 
doubtful  river  names,  reported  by  Thalbitzer,1  all  on  the  northern 
border  of  New  Brunswick,  which,  if  really  Innuit  in  origin,  would 
be  sufficiently  accounted  for  by  occasional  southward  explorations 
or  harryings.  That  any  Eskimo  ever  left  the  St.  Lawrence  basin  to 
dwell  in  a  more  southerly  region  is  an  assumption  based  on  no 
evidence  whatever.  Their  long  established  habits  would  oppose  any 
considerable  return  toward  warmth  and  away  from  snow-banks, 
whales,  and  seals. 

For  predecessors  of  the  Algonquian  tribes  we  have  equally  no  data  ; 
nor  do  we  know  when  the  latter  first  arrived  on  the  Atlantic  shore. 
Most  investigators  agree  in  placing  their  origin  north  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  River.  They  seem  to  be  an  ancient  people.  Very  likely 
they  worked  down  from  that  valley  by  way  of  the  lesser  rivers — the 
Hudson,  Connecticut,  Housatonic,  Kennebec,  Penobscot,  and  St.  John. 
There  seems  to  be  nothing  to  make  such  a  migration  before  1000 
A.  D.  at  all  improbable,  though  it  might  be  incomplete. 

The  year  1000,  however,  for  America,  seems  very  far  back  in 
antiquity.  Perhaps  we  hardly  realize  how  much  of  what  we  consider 
ancient  was  then  yet  in  the  future.  The  Mayas2  no  doubt  were 
established  in  some  cities  of  the  Usumacinta  Valley  and  Honduras, 
though  hardly  anywhere  in  Yucatan ;  the  Inca  conquests  may  have 
begun,  but  can  hardly  have  been  pressed  very  far ;  the  Aztecs  perhaps 
had  not  yet  even  heard  of  the  Valley  of  Mexico.  Since  there  is  so 
much  to  be  learned  about  the  origin  of  these  higher  cultures,  it  is 
small  wonder  that  we  are  in  the  dark  or  twilight  as  to  ruder  tribes, 
which  have  left  neither  records  nor  monuments.  It  is  not  probable 
that  we  have  even  a  pictograph  on  the  Atlantic  coast  which  has  en- 
dured for  nine  hundred  years,  and  if  one  could  be  found  it  would  per- 
haps represent  no  more  than  some  passing  caprice  of  the  Indian  mind. 

From  this  point  of  view  we  can  only  say  that  Algonquian  tribes 
were  in  possession  as  far  back  as  we  know  and  that  the  burden  of 
proof  must  be  on  those  who  suggest  any  others — a  fortiori,  the  milder 
burden  of  presenting  at  least  some  modicum  of  evidence  tending  to 
show  either  predecessors  or  temporary  displacement  and  supplanting. 


1  The  Eskimo  Language,  p.  20. 

2  Morley  :  The  Correlation  of  Maya  and  Christian  Chronology.    Amer.  Journ. 
Archeol.  (1910),  p.  193. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  7 

2.— THE  OLD  WORLD  PRELUDE 

Humboldt *  implied,  and  Fiske  2  and  others  have  since  explicitly 
suggested,  that  there  may  have  been  many  pre-Columbian  voyages 
to  America  of  which  no  record  has  been  discovered.  On  the  Pacific 
coast  indications  of  such  voyages  survive  in  the  presence  of  the 
cocoa  palm,  which  is  found  in  America  as  well  as  in  Asia  and  on 
islands  all  the  way  across,  and  which  antedates  the  period  of  the 
earliest  recorded  visitors  to  the  New  World,  though  never  planted  by 
unassisted  nature,  so  far  as  we  know  ; 3  in  local  legends  of  the  landing 
of  sea-tribes  on  the  South  American  coast ;  *  in  the  evident  Mongolian 
features  of  certain  minor  northwestern  littoral  tribes,5  and  some 
peculiarities  of  the  language  of  others,  apparently  Polynesian ; " 
in  the  architecture  and  sculpture  of  ancient  Mayan  cities,  for  example, 
the  Chinese  or  Cambodian-like  figures  of  Copan,7  and  in  the  extra- 
ordinary similarity  of  the  whole  series  of  the  signs  of  the  Zodiac 
in  Greece  and  Babylon,  Mexico  and  Peru.8 

The  eastern  gates  also  have  their  indirect  evidences  of  approach  in 
a  variety  of  forms  which  are  mutually  confirmatory  and  of  unde- 
niable cumulative  importance,  though  not  yet  amounting  to  full  proof. 
Thus,  in  Humboldt's  Examen  Critique,9  we  find  a  few  instances,  at 
widely  separated  periods,  of  strange  men  and  boats  arriving,  appar- 
ently from  the  west,  on  the  outlying  European  islands.  He  never 
visited  these  places,  and  close  investigation  of  these  tales  at  so  late  a 
time  was  impossible ;  but  he  seems  to  have  given  them  some  credit. 
No  doubt  they  lend  a  slight  degree  of  support  to  the  sailor  story  in 
the  Zeno  narrative,  the  Phenician  legend  of  Diodorus  quoted  in  Dr. 


'Examen  Critique,  vol.  5;  in  considering  the  Voyage  of  Madoc. 

2  The  Discovery  of  America,  vol.  I,  pp.  181-185. 

3O.  F.  Cook  in  Amer.  Anthrop.,  1909,  p.  486. 

4  Justin  Winsor:  Narr.  and  Crit.  Hist,  of  America,  vol.  I,  p.  82,  note. 

5H.  H.  Bancroft:  Races  of  the  Pacific  States,  vol.  i,  p.  225.  Cf.  W.  H. 
Ball :  Tribes  of  the  Extreme  Northwest,  p.  237. 

6C.  Hill-Tout:  Oceanic  Origin  of,  etc.  Trans.  Royal  Soc.  Can.,  Sec.  2,  vol.4 
(1898). 

7  Thomas  and  McGee :  Pre-historic  North  America,  p.  256  (vol.  19  Lee's 
Hist,  of  America).  Also  Stephens:  Central  America,  Chiapas  and  Yucatan, 
(see  Catherwood's  views),  and  The  American  Egypt,  by  Arnold  and  Frost, 
pp.  213  and  269. 

8S.  Hagar:  Origin  American  Aborigines.  Astronomy,  read  Dec.  27,  1911,  in 
symposium  of  Amer.  Ass'n  Adv.  Sci.,  Amer.  Anthrop. 

9  Vol.  2,  p.  259.  Cf.  James  Wallace :  A  Description  of  the  Isles  of  Orkney, 
PP-  33,  34- 


8  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

Nansen's  In  Northern  Mists,  the  Norse-Irish  accounts  of  the  finding 
of  Ari  Marsson  in  his  western  home,  and  other  reports  of  unlucky 
men  who  from  time  to  time  were  storm-driven  far  across  the 
Atlantic.  If  mariners  or  wanderers  could  thus  casually  make  the 
passage  from  west  to  east,  why  not  from  east  to  west?  The  still 
rather  common  fate  of  being  at  the  mercy  of  the  elements  and  of  an 
undesired  landfall  should  not  be  regarded  as  suspicious,  although  of 
course  often  utilized  in  the  fiction  of  all  countries  and  periods. 
Horsford's  *  chart  of  the  courses  of  wrecks  and  derelicts  is  a  curious 
exhibit  of  their  frequency  in  later  years  along  a  part  of  our  coast. 
Would  that  frequency  be  less  when  both  vessels  and  skippers  were 
without  compasses  or  charts,  and  in  every  way  poorly  equipped  to 
elude  or  overcome  their  dangers  ?  D'Avezac 2  relates,  in  passing,  two 
rather  early  instances  recorded  of  wrecks  on  the  Canaries  and  the 
Azores — a  French  vessel  of  about  the  year  1336  and  a  Greek  craft  in 
1370.  For  that  matter,  disabled  ships  have  been  known  to  wander 
over  the  Atlantic  month  after  month  in  recent  years,  reaching  in 
succession  widely  separated  regions ;  and,  if  left  to  themselves, 
might  have  stranded  finally  almost  anywhere. 

The  map  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  itself  suggests  that  very  early 
crossings  were  much  more  than  possible ;  exhibiting  as  it  does  a 
strait-like  narrowing  between  South  America  and  Africa,  and  an- 
other at  the  far  north,  where  the  Faroe  Islands,  Iceland,  and  Green- 
land make  convenient  stepping  stones.  Moreover,  warm,  alluring 
islands  are  scattered  out  before  Morocco  and  the  Iberian  peninsula 
so  widely  that  the  farthest  is  about  halfway  between  Cadiz  and  Cape 
Race.  Even  from  the  tip  of  Brittany,  the  southwest  of  Ireland,  or 
the  Basque  provinces  of  northwestern  Spain,  that  corner  of  New- 
foundland was  not  inordinately  far.  There  were  also  favorable 
ocean  currents  at  some  points,  the  most  notable  of  which  swept  then, 
as  now,  southward  along  the  outer  front  of  the  Azores,  Madeira,  and 
the  Canaries ;  then  in  a  wide  curve  moved  westward  to  the  Caribbean, 
joining  there  another  stream  from  the  lower  African  coast.  The 
various  natural  crossing  routes  above  indicated  were  the  main 
highways  of  early  accidents  like  those  above  mentioned,  often  merely 
legendary,  but  historical  in  the  cases  of  Leif  and  Cabral. 


landfall  of  Leif,  p.  4. 

'2  Discoveries  of  the  Middle  Ages,  p.  32.  Much  more  recently  a  small  vessel, 
leaving  one  Canary  Island  for  another,  was  blown  off  and  afterward  found 
with  her  crew  well  over  toward  South  America.  Also  a  fishing  crew  of  the 
Newfoundland  banks  was  similarly  driven  to  the  Azores. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  9 

Who  can  say  how  early  these  crossings  of  the  ocean  may  have 
begun  ?  It  is  true,  as  Prof.  Shaler x  has  suggested,  that  there  might 
have  been  great  difficulty  in  winning  home  again  without  a  keel ; 
but  ancient  Egypt,  Greece,  and  Phenicia  all  used  this  important  appli- 
ance, according  to  Dr.  Nansen  ;2  the  Celts,  Saxons,  and  Normans  con- 
tinued its  use,  and  Scandinavian  shipbuilding,  in  this  as  in  other 
things,  inherited  from  antiquity  and  the  Mediterranean.  Besides, 
the  Polynesians  in  their  great  sea-boats  have  made  recorded  ocean 
voyages  more  extensive  than  crossing  the  Atlantic,  and  there  must 
have  been  many  such  in  far  earlier  times,  or  islands  as  remote  as 
Hawaii  and  Easter  would  not  have  been  peopled  by  them.  Why 
must  we  suppose  that  there  were  no>  navigators  on  the  Atlantic  side 
of  America  who  were  able  to  emulate  the  dusky  adventurers  of  the 
Pacific  ? 

We  must  remember  that  the  Mediterranean  civilization  had  an  out- 
post at  Cadiz  from  about  iioo  B.  C.,  directly  facing  America;  that, 
like  all  Phenician  towns,  it  was  probably  even  then  a  center  of  mari- 
time curiosity  and  enterprise,  and,  at  any  rate,  had  grown  into  a 
wealthy  and  far-reaching  commercial  city  when  visited  five  hundred 
years  later ;  and  that  in  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  after  a  long 
period  of  Mahometan  rule  just  ended,  it  was  still  important  enough 
to  make  Edrisi  greatly  exaggerate  On  his  map  the  size  of  its  peninsula, 
making  this  an  island,  and  giving  it  a  name  when  most  other  islands 
of  the  sea  went  nameless. 

We  know  that  Phenicia,  Egypt,  Greece,  and  Rome  were  somehow 
aware,  or  dreamed,  of  lands  beyond  the  great  water ;  and  that  these 
fascinating  suggestions  were  useful  long  afterward  in  helping  to 
inspire  Prince  Henry  and  Toscanelli,  Columbus,  and  Cabot.  It  would 
be  a  pleasure  to  find  their  enduring  charm  rooted  in  real  knowledge, 
as  it  well  may  have  been  ;  but  modern  works  on  Atlantis— for  the  most 
part  valueless — add  nothing  trustworthy  to  Plato's  memorable  report 
of  legendary  echoes ;  and  we  must  feel  that  this  story,  and  others 
like  it,  may  have  arisen  from  some  vision,  as  unreal  as  the  white 
surviving  phantom  city  which  a  Central  American  padre  saw  from  a 
mountain  top  so  vividly  that  he  made  Stephens  3  believe  in  it  also, 
with  several  picturesque  romances  by  Haggard,  Westall,  and  others 
for  a  much  later  result.  Yet  this  is  not  the  only  and  inevitable  expla- 


1  Nature  and  Man  in  America,  p.  189. 

2  Tn  Northern  Mists,  vol.  i,  pp.  37,  40,  48,  242,  248. 

:'  Central  America,  Chiapas  and  Yucatan,  p.  195.  Also  J.  L.  Stephens  :  Travels 
in  Yucatan,  pp.  191  and  202. 


IO  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

nation,  and  there  are  divers  corroborative  items,  of  various  degrees 
of  cogency,  to  be  considered,  which  go  to  make  up  a  fair  probability 
that  some  of  these  early,  half  historic  glimmerings  were  something 
more  than  fancy-play  or  mere  lucky  conjectures  of  the  truth. 

We  should  naturally  expect  the  Phenicians  of  Cadiz  and  Carthage 
to  reach  the  Madeiras  and  the  Azores,  which  lay  out  before  them,  and 
were  rather  more  accessible  than  Britain.  Storms  would  drive  them 
there  if  they  lacked  the  hardihood  to  try  the  chances  of  the  open  sea, 
and  one  little  island  group  would  lead  them  on  to  another.  In  a 
cavern  of  St.  Michael's,1  of  the  middle  Azores,  an  inscription  is  said 
to  have  been  found  by  early  explorers,  which  has  been  commonly 
supposed  to  be  Phenician  because  identified  as  Hebrew,  a  closely 
allied  script  and  tongue,  by  a  "  Moor,  the  son  of  a  Jew,"  who  was 
with  the  party,  but  could  not,  or  at  least  did  not  translate  it.  The  tale 
is  from  Thevet,  cosmographer  of  Henry  III,  who  says  that  he 
visited  these  islands  long  afterward.  Remembering  divers  American 
"  Phenician  inscriptions,"  called  so  before  Norsemen  were  put  for- 
ward as  our  chief  inscribers,  one  desires  at  least  a  better  expert 
opinion,  and  a  more  generally  trusted  transmitter  than  Thevet. 

The  knowledge  of  these  islands  kept  on  through  the  centuries  in  an 
intermittent,  glimmering  way.  The  ancient  Irish  legends  of  explora- 
tion have  much  to  say  of  islands  to  the  southward  which,  in  part, 
must  be  the  Azores,  if  real,  and  in  particular  of  islands  notable  for 
their  fine  sheep,  their  singing  birds,  or  their  dangerous  monsters. 
Then  the  Moors,  conquering  Africa  and  the  Iberian  peninsula,  soon 
came  to  the  front  as  navigators,  and  we  find  again  the  Isle  of  Sheep, 
the  Isle  of  Birds,  and  the  Isle  of  the  Dragon  in  Edrisi's  Atlantic 
series,  distinct  from  the  Canaries  which  he  had  described  already. 
Furthermore,  his  twelfth  century  map  shows  a  string  of  islands 
stretching  northward  from  below  Gibraltar  parallel  to  the  western 
shore  of  Europe,  sadly  out  of  place  for  accurate  geography,  but  in 
an  arrangement  fairly  paralleled  by  the  fifteenth  century  map  of 
Zuan  da  Napoli,  who  gives  us  the  names  of  Corvo  and  the  other 
Azores.  The  chain  of  record  seems  reasonably  complete,  and  early 
visits,  even  to  that  mid- Atlantic  island  and  its  companion,  Conigi  or 
Flores,  must  have  been  rather  numerous.  Who  can  believe  that  such 
visitors  would  all  pause  there  with  the  vision  in  their  souls  of  other 
islands  equally  probable,  equally  delightful  out  beyond  ? 


1  Humboldt :  Examen  Critique,  vol.  2,  p.  240. 


NO.    19  NORSE   VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  II 

Edrisi  *  records  also  the  celebrated  Magrurin  expedition  from 
Lisbon,  which  is  generally  mentioned  as  occurring  a  little  before  the 
expulsion  of  the  Moors  in  1147,  though  it  must  have  been  earlier, 
since  in  1154  he  mentions  a  street  named  after  them,  with  no  hint  of 
recent  naming.  They  had  resolved,  it  appears,  to  cross  the  Atlantic, 
but  turned  southward  after  getting  twelve  days  out,  into  the  weed- 
encumbered  Sargasso  Sea,  and  seem  to  have  wandered  rather  aim- 
lessly toward  the  African  coast,  along  which,  at  last,  they  made  their 
way  home. 

Humboldt 2  supposed  that  their  farthest  point  may  have  been  one 
of  the  Cape  Verde  group.  Other  inquirers  think  it  more  to  the 
northward.  The  story  gives  the  prince  of  that  island  an  Arabic 
interpreter  and  makes  him  declare  through  this  mouthpiece  that  his 
royal  father  had  sailed  forty  days  beyond  it  without  finding  land ; 
after  which  he  promptly  shipped  his  visitors  to  Africa.  But  we  do 
not  know  Edrisi's  authority  for  what  these  wanderers  related.  Giving 
it  full  face  value,  however,  there  is  nothing  to  indicate  that  they 
crossed  the  ocean. 

The  same  is  equally  true  of  the  Genoese  brothers3  Vivaldi  who, 
according  to  old  chronicles  of  their  city,  "  undertook  "  about  1285, 
in  the  very  spirit  of  Columbus  "  a  new  and  untried  voyage,  that  to 
India  by  way  of  the  West."  This  has  been  taken  to  import  a  voyage 
around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  possibly  may  mean  nothing 
more,  yet  the  words  are  memorable.  Besides,  the  fourteenth  century 
maps,  long  antedating  the  Portuguese  discoveries,  give  Italian  names 
almost  exclusively  to  the  Azores,  which  would  lie  well  out  of  the  way 
of  the  course  supposed.  Either  these  adventurous  men  or  others  of 
their  country  must  have  ranged  widely  eastward  and  northeastward, 
with  close  quartering  of  the  sea.  One  is  tempted  to  think  that  they 
can  not  have  been  so  very  far  from  the  Newfoundland  banks  or  the 
Bermudas  in  some  of  their  outward  sweeps ;  for  they  found  and 
named  all  the  more  eastwardly  islands  that  are  known,  as  well  as  two 
or  more  dubious  ones  with  Irish  or  Arabic  names  over  which  men  still 
puzzle  and  wrangle.  For  the  Irish  were  ever  before  the  Arabs  in  their 
explorations — how  far  we  cannot  guess,  the  voyages  of  the  Celts 
having  begun  far  back  beyond  the  twilight  of  history.  Perhaps  the 


isi:  Geography,  Jaubert's  transl.,  vol.  2,  p.  27.  Their  voyage  is  briefly 
related  also  in  Examen  Critique,  vol.  2. 

-  Examen  Critique,  vol.  2,  p.  237. 

3  M.  D'Avezac :  Discoveries  of  the  Middle  Ages,  p.  23.  Also  Humboldt : 
Examen  Critique,  vol.  2,  p.  234. 


12  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

first  that  we  hear  of  which  can  possibly  have  any  significance  in  this 
connection  is  Arthur's  mysterious  and  disastrous  foray  into  some 
northern  Gaelic  region,  in  quest  of  "  The  Spoils  of  Annwn." 

The  ancient  poem  in  the  Book  of  Taliessin,1  bearing  that  title, 
seems  to  have  a  nucleus  of  reality,  though  surrounding  the  British 
leader,  as  does  the  perhaps  equally  archaic  story  of  Kilhwch  and 
Olwen,2  with  accessories  borrowed  from  some  fading  pagan  god.  At 
any  rate,  these  verses  may  have  been  the  germ  of  the  fictitious 
Arthurian  conquest  of  Ireland  and  Iceland  related  by  Geoffrey 
of  Monmouth,  that  most  romantic  and  romancing  of  literary  bishops 
— who  in  this  instance  has  found  a  believer  to  some  extent  in  even  the 
veteran  investigator  Rev.  B.  F.  De  Costa,  for  the  latter  says:  "  The 
expedition  of  Arthur  to  Iceland  may  be  regarded  as  historic."  :  One 
may  be  pardoned  for  regarding  this  deliverance  itself  with  some  aston- 
ishment. As  to  the  origin  of  these  medieval  extravagances  in  that 
poem,  it  is  pleasant  to  find  one's  independent  conjecture  anticipated 
and  confirmed  by  a  suggestion  of  Sir  John  Rhys  4  published  long  ago. 

There  is  a  most  interesting  sequence  of  Irish  sea-tales  better  worthy 
of  our  consideration.  First,  the  Voyage  of  Bran,  even  as  a  composi- 
tion, apparently  dates  well  back  into  early  heathen  times.  Dr. 
Zimmer  5  credits  parts  of  it  to  the  seventh  century,  but  they  include 
a  quite  irrelevant  prophecy,  made  by  a  sea-god  in  person,  which 
utterance,  though  itself  archaic  in  subject  matter,  is  evidently  an  addi- 
tion to  an  original  simple  story.  This  nucleus  may  well  be  very 
ancient  indeed. 

Bran  the  son  of  Febal,  we  are  told,  having  been  summoned  by 
a  mysterious  and  lovely  feminine  being,  sailed  over  the  ocean  to  the 
Isle  of  Joy,  where  everyone  laughed  without  ceasing.  One  of  Bran's 
men  went  ashore,  and  forthwith  took  to  laughing  also.  His  comrades 
could  get  no  answer  from  him,  so  sailed  on  and  let  him  be.  At  the 
next  island  a  lovely  enchantress  threw  a  ball  of  magic  yarn  to  Bran ; 
which  hit  the  mark  and  held,  so  that  she  drew  him  and  all  of  them 
ashore.  She  kept  them  with  her  and  her  fair  companions  for  a 
year  as  it  seemed,  but  really  it  was  many  years.  At  last  one  of  the 
crew  was  taken  with  a  great  longing  for  home ;  so  Bran  carried 
him  back  to  Ireland.  But  when  the  man  stepped  ashore,  he  fell  to 


1  W.  F.  Skene :  The  Four  Ancient  Books  of  Wales,  vol.  I.  p.  264. 

2  J.  Rhys :  Introduction  to  Malory's  King  Arthur,  p.  224. 

3B.  F.  DeCosta  :  Arctic  Exploration.    Amer.  Geogr.  Soc.  Bull.  1880,  p.  163. 
4J.  Rhys:  The  Arthurian  Legend,  (1890),  pp.  10,  11. 
5  Alfred  Nutt :  The  Voyage  of  Bran. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  13 

ashes,  as  though  very  long  dead.  Bran  took  warning  and  would  not 
land.  He  lay  off  shore  and  told  the  people  his  story ;  then  put  out 
to  sea  and  was  never  heard  of  again. 

What  fact,  if  any,  is  behind  this  delightful  old  pagan  allegory? 
Of  course  it  may  possibly  embody  a  memory  of  summer  isles  of  Eden 
really  visited ;  or  it  may  be  no  more  than  the  play  of  sea-side  fancy 
among  sunset  clouds,  or  an  echo  of  wonder-tales  older  than  the 
Odyssey.  The  legend,  as  a  whole  and  in  detail,  has  been  exhaustively 
considered  in  a  valuable  work  by  Mr.  Nutt,1  but  we  can  get  no 
nearer  than  this  to  the  origin  of  its  germ. 

The  Voyage  of  Maelduin  2  inherits  from  the  Voyage  of  Bran  and 
borrows  from  many  quarters,  even  one  of  St.  Brandan's  shipmates 
being  among  its  later  acquisitions.  Every  successive  editor  and  en- 
larger  of  the  story  seems  to  have  felt  bound  to  outdo  his  predecessors. 
Its  wonders  are  manifold :  ants  as  large  as  colts ;  a  supernatural  cat 
and  its  palace ;  a  horse-monster  with  blue  claws ;  a  holy  anchoret  clad 
only  in  his  white  miraculous  hair ;  a  wicked  monastery  cook  marooned 
in  a  little  private  hell  on  a  barren  rock  for  having  played  the  thief  and 
served  uneatable  food  to  his  brethren.  All  told,  this  Voyage  of 
Maelduin  is  hardly  convincing,  except  as  to  the  possibilities  of 
Irish  fancy  unrestrained ;  which  compares  ill  with  the  dramatic  grip, 
epic  power,  and  graphic  quality  of  Icelandic  narration.  However, 
it  passes  along  the  tradition  of  lovely  tropical  islands  in  distant  seas. 

St.  Brandan  the  Navigator  was  real,  the  abbot  of  a  Kerry  mon- 
astery near  the  end  of  the  sixth  century.  His  experiences  are  sung 
in  twelfth  century  Latin  verse  and  told  in  early  Gaelic  prose,  as 
well  as  in  the  fine  English  translation  printed  by  Wynken  de  Worde, 
successor  to  Caxton — not  contemporary  testimony,  to  be  sure,  but 
probably  reliable  as  to  the  main  fact  and  general  course  of  his 
Atlantic  journeying,  with  more  or  less  of  the  details. 

Humboldt  thought  St.  Brandan  may  have  gone  northward,  visiting 
the  Orkneys ;  but  he  seems  to  be  wrong,  for  the  narrative  has  a 
southern  cast.  A  writer  in  the  Celtic  Review,3  Mr.  Dominick  Daly, 
at  first  argued  for  the  Bahamas — making  the  saint  forestall  Columbus 
— with  an  ingenious  marshaling  of  winds  and  current,  and  other 
data  not  all  quite  so  tenable.  But  he  seems  to  have  been  converted  to 
Teneriffe  and  her  island  sisterhood  bv  Markham's  translation  of 


1  Alfred  Nutt :  The  Voyage  of  Bran. 
•Joyce:     The  Voyage  of  Maelduin. 
3 The  Celtic  Review,  vol.  i,  p.  139. 


14  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

Espinosa.1  He  must  be  right  in  the  change.  Yet  Mr.  De  Roo's 2  very 
bulky  volume  takes  St.  Brandan  across  in  a  higher  latitude;  and 
Mr.  Cantwell3  plants  him  near  Cairo,  Illinois,  with  Ernulphus  and 
Madoc  to  follow. 

Saint  Brandan  (or  Brenden  or  Borondon)  was  summoned,  like 
Bran ;  but  only  by  an  abbot,  poor  fellow,  and  for  a  search  in  south- 
western waters  after  one  Mernoc,  also  very  holy  and  quite  vanished. 
Another  object  of  his  quest  was  the  real  original  garden  of  Adam  and 
Eve,  a  rather  difficult  order.  According  to  some  accounts  the  Breton 
St.  Malo  went  with  him,  the  lost  Mernoc  being  a  Breton  too.  After- 
ward St.  Malo  had  a  voyage  of  his  own,  at  least  in  literature,  along 
similar  lines. 

The  ship  of  Brandan,  like  that  of  Maelduin,  was  hide-covered 
over  a  wooden  framework,  the  hide  being  in  three  layers,  one  inside, 
two  outside ;  and  there  were  other  coincidences  as  to  the  embarka- 
tion and  the  number  of  sailor-monks.  Furthermore,  two  of  the  crew 
were  foredoomed  in  each  case.  But  propriety  was  now  strictly 
observed.  No  magic  yarn-balls  caught  the  saint ;  he  was  not  fished 
for  by  any  kind  of  Circe  or  Calypso.  The  reasons  are  not  given. 
Only  once  a  faint  semblance  of  peril  may  seem  to  threaten,  in  his 
visit  to  an  island  monastery  of  some  easy  order,  where  angels  lighted 
the  tapers  and  served  meals  for  the  brethren,  exciting  only  a 
reverent  astonishment  in  the  pious  guest.  Very  humanely  and 
winningly,  though,  he  warns  off  the  tormenting  swarms  of  devils 
from  hapless  Judas,  bidding  them  let  the  poor  creature  have  that  one 
night  in  peace.  And  about  the  loveliest  fantasy  in  literature  is  that 
of  the  divinely  singing  birds,  who  were  really  unlucky  angels,  doomed 
only  to  serve  God  in  this  delightful  way,  "  because  our  sins  had  been 
but  little.  Then  all  the  birds  began  to  sing  evensong,  so  that  it  was 
an  heavenly  noise  to  hear." 

The  legend  was  a  liberal  dealer  in  matters  of  myth,  borrowing 
and  lending.  Under  one  of  these  heads  and  as  proof  of  Irish-Arab 
interchanges  already  alluded  to,  either  direct  or  through  others,  we 
must  rank  the  island-monster,  which  punished  the  building  of  a  fire  on 
it  in  mistake,  and  the  roc-like  bird  that  began  life  again  after  the 
manner  of  the  phoenix.  Only,  this  was  by  immersion  in  a  Pool  of 
Youth,  which  passed  on  to  later  times,  prompting,  it  may  be  (with 


Celtic  Review,  1909,  p.  273. 
2  P.  De  Roo :  History  of  America  before  Columbus. 

3E.  Cantwell:  Pre-Columbian  Discoveries  of  America.    Mag.  West.  History, 
vol.  13,  P-  141- 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  15 

native  aid),  Ponce  de  Leon's  pathetic  effort  to  turn  a  dream  into 
reality. 

Among  vagrant  fancies,  the  Voyage  of  St.  B randan  preserves  a 
few  significant  facts.  The  island  where  were  "  the  whitest  and 
greatest  sheep  they  ever  saw,"  pasturing  on  luxuriant  herbage  never 
touched  by  frost,  recalls  the  northern  side  of  Teneriffe  and  its  fleece- 
robed  inhabitants,  who  lived  mainly  by  their  flocks,  as  depicted  on 
the  spot  by  Espinosa,  whose  work  was  first  printed  in  Spain  in  1597. 
A  visit  to  a  neighboring  region,  seemingly  continental,  is  also  related, 
whence  the  explorers  carried  away  "  fruit  and  gems."  Now  Africa, 
having  both,  is  not  very  far  away.  Even  more  apt  and  explicit  are  the 
accounts  of  volcanic  phenomenon  ;  for  example :  "  They  saw  a  hill 
all  one  fire  and  the  fire  stood  on  each  side  of  the  hill  like  a  wall,  all 
burning."  Such  a  picture  might  have  been  photographed  within 
four  or  five  years  among  the  Canary  Islands,  and  has  many  times 
been  repeated  during  the  march  of  centuries. 

No  doubt  there  are  many  islands  having  volcanoes,  but  not  among 
the  Bahamas.  One  might  find  some  difficulty  in  discovering  sheep, 
cliffs,  active  volcanoes,  fruit,  tropical  weather,  good  pasturage, 
and  an  earthly  paradise,  all  nearly  together ;  but  at  any  rate  it  must  be 
conceded  that  no  part  of  the  world  within  reach  of  the  saint,  except 
the  "  Fortunate  Isles  "  or  their  neighbors  could  probably  supply  the 
combination. 

Espinosa  relates  traditions  of  the  few  surviving  Guanches,  concern- 
ing an  early  evangelist  supposed  to  be  an  apostle  (as  in  so  many  other 
instances)  ;  thirty  people  who  landed  long  ago  at  Icod,  "  the  gathering 
place  of  the  sons  of  the  great  one,"  and  the  finding,  before  the  Span- 
iards came,  of  a  miraculous  image,  inscribed  with  uninterpreted 
assemblages  of  Latin  letters ;  also  a  curious  quotation  from  an  uniden- 
tified calendar,  which  relates  the  sojourn  in  those  islands  of  St.  Bran- 
dan  and  St.  Malo  for  seven  years.  The  latter,  it  tells  us,  performed  an 
ecclesiastical  experiment  in  resuscitating  the  dead  and  damned,  there- 
by learning  uncomfortable  things  about  "  Hell  " — and  permitted  his 
patient  to  die  again  (and  finally)  "  in  the  time  of  the  Emperor 
Justinian."  The  statuette  (of  the  Madonna  and  child)  above  referred 
to,  or  a  later  substitute  as  some  say,  is  still  borne  in  religious  pro- 
cessions about  the  island  of  Teneriffe ;  and  withholds  obstinately  the 
message  of  its  cryptic  characters.  Until  these  cipher  writings  shall 
have  been  read  to  some  purpose,  they  obviously  can  not  help  to  es- 
tablish any  connection  with  St.  Branclan.  Mr.  Daly  thinks  the  saint 


l6  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

and  his  companions  may  have  brought  the  holy  image  from  Ireland  ; 
but  in  view  of  the  great  gap  of  time  to  be  accounted  for,  I  incline 
rather  to  the  entertaining  Father  Espinosa's  artless  declaration  that 
angels  brought  it  straight  from  Heaven. 

In  all  this  there  is  not  much  to  be  fairly  called  corroboration  of 
the  internal  evidence  of  the  medieval  voyage-narrative ;  but  it  is 
certainly  interesting  to  find  the  sixteenth  century  Spaniards  of  the 
Canaries  well  up  in  the  legends  of  St.  Brandan  and  St.  Malo,  and 
confident  of  their  visit  to  those  islands  a  thousand  years  earlier. 

3.— THE  MYTHICAL  ISLANDS  OF  THE  ATLANTIC 
The  only  place  where  one  can  still  see  St.  Brandan  is  on  Pizigani's 
map1  of  1367,  bestowing  his  benediction,  in  medieval  portraiture, 
on  his  "  Fortunate  Islands,"  thus  named  collectively  in  the  map-le- 
gend, but  individually  as  Ysola  Caporizzia,  Ysola  Canaria,  and  Ysole 
clouer  Sommart.  Possibly  they  were  borrowed  from  Dulcert  1339 
of  Genoa,  who  calls  the  first-named  island  Capraria  and  the  last 
Primaria.2  The  site  of  the  latter  is  identical  in  both  maps  and  approx- 
imately occupied  by  a  cluster  of  rocks  in  a  more  modern  one.  S6m- 
mart  (somma)  is,  however,  more  likely  to  indicate  the  peak  of  Pico; 
and  the  plural  form  Ysole  may  convey  a  sense  of  its  less  lofty  Azorian 
companions.  Whatever  the  explanation  of  this  item,  the  cartographer 
of  the  Atlante  Mediceo  or  Gaddiano  map  (1351)  thought  best  to 
omit  it ;  as  does  also  the  Catalan  map  of  1375.  They  substituted,  how- 
ever, for  Caporizzia,  Legname  or  d'Legname  (Markland,  forest-land) 
because  of  the  great  woods  "  de  haute  futaie  "  (D'Avezac)  3  with 
which  the  early  visitors  found  it  covered,  also  the  companion  island 
becomes  Porto  Santo,  as  now,  and  Las  Desertas  have  already  taken 
their  name  as  Insulse  Desertae.  Zuan  da  Napoli,  whose  map — that  is, 
the  Venetian  one  uncertainly  attributed  to  him — is  given  by  Kohl 
approximately  the  date  14 —  (perhaps  of  1440  or  later)  translates 
Legname  into  Madera,  its  Portuguese  equivalent,  which,  with  a 
little  change  in  spelling,  still  remains.  It  seems  pretty  clear  that 
Madeira  is  the  original  Markland  of  Atlantic  voyagers;  also  that 
it  and  its  neighbor,  Porto  Santo,  with  or  without  some  lesser  com- 


1  Kohl's  collection  of  maps  in  Library  of  Congress.     Also  Jomard's  Atlas. 

2Nordenskjold's  Periplus,  pi.  8,  also  K.  Kretschmer :  The  Discovery  of 
America  (Die  Entdeckung  Amerikas),  Atlas,  Tafel  I,  pi.  2.  Benincasa  1482 
and  others  also  show  the  Madeira  group  as  three  islands ;  but  consider  Las 
Desertas  one  of  them,  omitting  Primaria  or  Sommart. 

3  Marie  D'Avezac  :  Discoveries  of  the  Middle  Ages,  pp.  7,  8.  The  best  repro- 
duction is  in  Fischer's  Sammlung.  There  is  also  a  good  one  in  Benzley's  The 
Dawn  of  Modern  Geography  and  an  incomplete  facsimile  in  Nordenskjold's 
Periplus. 


SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS 


VOL.    59,    NO.     19.     PL.    1 


PART  OF  MAP  OF  THE  PIZIGANI  BROTHERS,  1|67  (FROM  JOMARD),  ATLANTIC  ISLANDS,  UPPER  PART 
Showing  Brazil  west  of  south  of  Ireland  ;  also  Brazir  (Man)  with  ship,  dragon,  and  kraken 


SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS   COLLECTIONS 


VOL.    59,    NO.    19,    PL.    2 


PART  OF  MAP  OF  THE  PIZIGANI  BROTHERS  1367  (FROM  JOMARD),  ATLANTIC  ISLANDS,  LOWER  PART 

Showing  angel  warning  against  westward  travel  ;  also  St.  Brandan  kneeling   by  his  islands 

(This  plate  partly  overlaps  plate  1) 


SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS   COLLECTIONS 


VOL.    59,    NO.    19,    PL.    3 


<^         •••/' 


. 


££W 

>--:     '     -V    ---T7 


PART  OF  CATALAN  MAP  OF  1375 

Showing  the  Island  of  Brazil  west  of  the  south  of  Ireland.    Man  and  Corvo  (with  Flores  as  li  Conigi) 
successively  below.     Brazil  is  annular,  enclosing  water  and  islets 


SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS 


VOL.    59,     NO.     19,     FL. 


./,  / 


T-TW\^ 


PART  OF  MAP  OF  BATTISTA  BECCARIA  (BECHARIUS)    1435,   UPPER   PART  OF  THE  ATLANTIC  ISLANDS 
Showing  Brazil,   Man,  Corvo,  and   Flores 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA — BABCOCK  17 

panions,  were  generally  accepted  by  the  conjecture  or  tradition  of  the 
fourteenth  century  as  The  Fortunate  Islands  and  especially  The 
Fortunate  Isles  of  St.  Brandan.  This  identification  was  afterwards 
forgotten,  but  the  memory  lingered  that  at  least  one  island  had  borne 
his  name,  and  we  find  it  reappearing,  in  random  fashion,  here  and 
there  about  the  ocean  at  points  where  no  island  should  be — a  very 
elusive  "  He  fantastique,"  though  not  the  only  one  nor  the  most  sig- 
nificant ;  for  "  the  mythical  islands  "  are  sown  most  liberally  over  the 
maps  of  five  centuries.  Thus  Brazil,  on  a  French  map  of  1754  holds 
nearly  the  same  direction  from  Limerick  as  Dalorto  gave  it  about  430 
years  before.  Mayda  (Asmayda)  is  even  more  persistent,  for  I  find 
it  in  the  old  and  proper  latitude,  opposite  northern  France,  on  a  relief 
map,  copyrighted  in  the  United  States  in  1906. 

As  map-makers  have  generally  followed  explorers,  with  only  a 
little  toning  down  and  conjectural  improvement,  we  may  safely 
take  every  additional  island  of  the  map  as  representing  at  least 
one  voyage  or  the  report  of  one.  We  know  how  the  very  dubious 
disclosures  of  the  Zeni  and  the  indubitable  discoveries  of  the  fifteenth 
century  got  into  geography,  though  the  former  have  since  melted 
away.  Also  we  can  see  how  the  medieval  cartographers  built  up, 
item  by  item,  a  true  island-showing  for  the  eastern  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
so  that  even  the  1351  map  already  cited,1  has  not  only  all  the  Canaries, 
but  all  their  names,  as  now  in  use,  with  the  single  exception  of 
Tenerifife.  The  islands  which  have  not  held  their  place  in  maps  of  the 
best  authority  are  almost  all  islands  out  of  place  and  duplicated, 
like  the  Island  of  St.  Brandan,  or  bits  of  some  more  extended  and 
more  distant  coast  line  similarly  misunderstood.  Thus  the  Sunken 
Land  of  Bus,  named  after  one  of  Frobishers  ships '  and  long  a  dis- 
quiet to  the  mariner,  since  it  could  never  be  found  again,  is  now 
generally  recognized  as  a  part  of  Greenland,  which  appeared  un- 
expectedly before  him  when  he  was  somehow  off  his  reckoning. 
Several  other  and  better  known  "  mythical  islands  "  are  inadequately 
accounted  for  by  any  theory  which  does  not  cross  the  Atlantic. 

In  form  and  direction  Antillia  and  Brazil  are  quite  as  constant  as 
the  Canaries,  and  more  so  than  the  Azores,  of  the  early  maps  ;  which 
may  show  conviction  arising  from  some  previous  precise  narrative. 
Antillia,  at  its  first  appearance,  is  a  large,  elongated,  rectangular, 
quadrilateral  island  with  four  indentations  in  its  eastern  side,  three  in 
its  western  side,  each  in  two  or  three  lobes,  also  a  greater  one  at  its 
southern  end,  all  carefully  delineated  as  if  by  survey;  and  it  so  re- 
mains, on  nearly  all  the  pre-Columbian  maps.  Sometimes  this  form 


!M.  D'Avezac:  Discoveries  of  the  Middle  Ages,  p.  42. 
-Or  possibly  after  one  of  his  officers. 


l8  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

and  the  name  also  have  been  explained  by  the  Atlantis  legend,  since 
Plato's  description  corresponds  with  it  more  or  less.  But  there  is  no 
obvious  reason  why  this  influence  should  have  been  less  potent  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  .the  quite  numerous  maps  of  which  have  no  draw- 
ings of  Antillia.1  Humboldt  argued  against  both  suppositions  and 
thought  the  name  derivable  from  the  Arabic  "  Al  Tin,"  the  serpent 
or  dragon,  a  reminiscence  of  the  terrors  of  the  Sea  of  Darkness.  In 
support  of  his  contention  he  refers  to  the  Island  of  the  Dragon  and 
like  items.  It  is  certainly  true  that  Edrisi  has  a  passage  concerning 
that  destroyer,  killed,  as  he  says,  on  one  of  the  Azores  by  Alexander 
the  Great ;  that  the  Pizigani's  kidnapping  monster  is  distinctly  labeled 
"  a  dragon  "  and  that  even  the  much  later  Olaus  Magnus  2  decorates 
one  issue  of  his  history  with  a  pictured  saurian  having  a  serpent's 
tail,  in  the  act  of  dragging  a  sailor  from  a  ship's  deck  to  its  lair  on 
some  rocky  Atlantic  shore.  Evidently  huge  reptiles  of  the  lizard 
kind  were  associated  in  human  minds  for  five  or  six  centuries  with 
the  perils  of  westward  navigation.  This  of  course  may  mean  no  more 
than  a  play  of  fancy  about  memories  of  crocodile-haunted  African 
rivers  ;  though  it  may  also  conceivably  record  impressions  left  by  far 
western  islands  where  similar  forms  were  at  least  equally  common. 
D'Avezac,3  reviewing  the  matter  of  etymology  in  1845,  dissented  from 
Humboldt's  hypothesis  ;  which  does  not  seem  to  have  been  taken  up 
zealously  by  any  advocate,  notwithstanding  the  very  great  eminence 
of  its  author.  Perhaps  it  has  been  regarded  as  ingenious,  rather  than 
perfectly  reliable,  for  the  transformation  of  Altin  into  Antillia  is  not 
adequately  explained. 

A  more  plausible  conjecture,  probably  the  most  nearly  convincing 
one  thus  far  offered,  makes  up  the  name  in  Portuguese  from  Ante  or 
Anti  (before  or  opposite)  and  ilha  Island.  On  some  maps  the  latter 
word  regularly  becomes  ilia — for  example  that  attributed  to  Zuan 
da  Napoli,4  already  mentioned.  By  either  spelling,  the  pronunciation 
in  full  would  presumably  be  Anteillia  or  Antiilia,  readily  compressed 
to  Antillia,  after  the  manner  of  all  languages  when  two  similar  vowels 
come  together.  Obviously  this  derivation  has  the  advantage  of  sim- 
plicity and  the  case  as  to  meaning  is  equally  good.  Divers  early  maps 
— as  Battista  Beccaria  (Becharius)  1435,  Bianco  1436,  Pareto  G  1455, 
Roselli  1468,  Bertran  1489,  and  Benincasa,  1482 — show  Antillia, 


1  Jomarcl:  Atlas,  Plate  11',  Pizigani  Map  of  1367.  An  obscure  Latin  inscrip- 
tion on  it  contains,  however,  the  word  Atullae  or  Atillie,  identified  with 
Antillia  by  Kretschmer  and  others. 

2J.  Winsor:  Narr.  and  Crit.  Hist,  of  America,  vol.  i,  p.  74;  Tillinghast's 
Monograph. 

3Les  lies  Fantastiques,  p.  27. 

*  Kohl's  collection  of  maps  in  Library  of  Congress. 

5K.  Kretschmer:  Die  Entdeckung  Amerikas,  Atlas.  Tafel  4. 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  IQ 

thus  named,  out  before  the  Azores  and  opposite  Portugal  across  a 
great  expanse  of  sea  and  curiously  duplicating  that  kingdom  in  length, 
breadth,  minor  details,  and  rectangular  outline.  Benincasa  adds  to 
the  appearance  of  accuracy  by  inscribing  at  intervals  names,  perhaps 
of  provinces,  on  all  parts  of  this  large  island,  but  seemingly  with  special 
reference  to  the  bays  and  their  neighborhoods,  as  well  as  on  another 
of  similar  general  form,  though  shorter  and  narrower,  which  lies  to 
the  northward  somewhat  farther  than  Florida  from  Cuba.  Bianco 
had  called  this  rather  fearsomely  La  Man  de  Satanaxio,  commonly 
rendered  The  Island  of  the  Hand  of  Satan,  a  name  abbreviated  to 
Satanta  by  one  much  later  geographer  and  even  changed  to  St.  Anna 
by  another,  both  necessarily  of  but  secondary  authority  in  such  a 
matter.  Benincasa,  however,  reverts  to  the  earlier  name  Salvagio  or 
Saluagio  of  Beccaria,  changing  it  slightly  to  Saluaga.  Presumably 
in  both  cases  the  "  u  "  should  have  the  value  of  "  v,"  as  was  common 
usage  then  and  long  afterward. 

This  Beccaria1  (Becharius),  was  the  first  delineator,  so  far  as  we 
know,  of  this  highly  significant  Antillian  group  of  large  far  south- 
western islands.  He  makes  them  four  in  number,  including  a  rela- 
tively small,  but  considerable  island,  north  of  Salvagio  marked  I  in 
Mar-Sea  Island  (or  Islands),  literally  "in  sea" — and  Reylla  (King 
Island  or  Royal  Island),  bearing,  in  area,  form,  and  position,  approxi- 
mately the  same  relation  to  Antillia  that  Jamaica  bears  to  Cuba.2  He 
also  applies  to  the  whole  group  the  conspicuous  legend  Newly  Re- 
ported Islands — Insulle  a  Novo  Repte.,  which  recalls  the  note  accom- 
panying Antillia  on  Behaim's  globe  of  1492,  prepared  while  Columbus 
was  yet  at  sea  on  his  first  voyage,  to  the  effect  that  a  Spanish  vessel 
visited  this  island  in  1414.  Nordenskjold  quotes  also  an  anonymous 
map  of  1424  at  Weimar,  which  Santorem  has  copied  in  his  atlas,  but 
without  Antillia  by  reason  of  incomplete  westward  extension  ;  but  the 
present  Weimar  librarian  considers  this  to  be  certainly  the  work 
(perhaps  about  1481),  of  Freducci,  a  map-maker  of  the  latter  half  of 
that  century.3  Another  map  by  Freducci  made  after  the  earlier 

1  Studi  Bibliografici  e  Biografici,  containing  papers  of  1st  and  2d  Italian 
Geographical  Congresses,  with  maps  appended,  plate  8. 

2Roselli  1468  shows  all  four  islands,  though  the  outline  of  his  Roills  is 
faint.  The  original  map  is  in  the  collection  of  the  Hispania  Society  of 
America,  New  York.  Bertran,  as  reported  by  Kretschmer,  gives  it  a  different 
name. 

3  My  photographic  copy  of  the  original,  made  in  Weimar,  shows  the  upper 
half  of  Antillia  with  the  name  in  full,  the  lower  half  of  the  island  being  cut 
off  by  the  parchment  border.  Salvagio  above  it  is  in  full  outline  of  usual 
form,  but  with  only  S  legible. 


2O  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

voyages  of  Columbus  is  considered  by  him  to  show  Antillia  as  of  the 
real  Antilles.  The  slightly  later  ( 1500)  map  of  Juan  de  La  Cosa  may 
preserve  another  echo  of  the  tradition  recorded  by  Behaim  in  his 
entry  "  this  is  the  island  that  the  Portuguese  found  "  applied  to  an  un- 
named outline  of  the  orthodox  rectangular  form  of  the  eastern  South 
American  coast,  for  he  could  hardly  yet  have  heard  of  the  landfall  of 
Cabral.  Finally,  we  know  that  Las  Casas,  the  friend  of  Columbus, 
promptly  applied  to  Cuba  and  its  companions  the  term  The  Antilles, 
which  they  bear  to  this  day  and  that  other  contemporaries  believed  he 
had  reached  the  Antillia  which  Toscanelli  recommended  to  him  in 
advance  as  a  convenient  stopping-place  on  the  way  to  Asia.  All 
things  considered,  it  appears  that  Nordenskjold  had  some  solid 
ground  of  justification  for  classifying  all  the  maps  of  Periplus  which 
contain  Antillia,  under  the  heading  "  Maps  relating  to  the  New 
World  "  (see  note  I,  p,  176). 

Antillia  and  its  consorts  cannot  be  the  Azores,  which  in  each 
instance  are  shown  half  way  out  to  them  or  not  much  less,  the 
remotest  pair  of  the  latter,  Flores  and  Corvo  being  similarly  situated 
in  reality  with  regard  to  some  points  of  the  American  shore.  Fur- 
thermore these  Portuguese  islands  are  in  each  instance  represented  of 
about  the  proper  size,  being  indeed  evidently  well  understood  except 
as  to  the  western  inclination  of  the  extended  Azorean  series.  This  is 
not  strange  in  view  of  the  amount  of  coming  and  going  among  them 
at  that  time,  Beccaria's  earliest  date  being  about  sixty  years  after 1  the 
establishment  of  the  Norman  trading  post  Petit  Dieppe  on  the  African 
coast  far  below,  followed  by  frequent  voyages  thereto  while  the 
Basque  and  Breton  fisheries  were  carried  on  in  a  lively  way  in  those 
seas.  The  Italians  also  had  been  up  among  them,  leaving  names  for  all 
the  islands,  and  now  the  Portuguese  were  taking  exploration  and 
colonization  earnestly  in  hand.  But  far  beyond  these  Azores  there 
was  obviously,  in  their  settled  belief,  something  very  much  greater, 
aptly  defined  as  in  front  of  Portugal,  and  the  Azores,  since  it  extended 
from  the  parallel  of  Lisbon  or  higher,  to  about  that  of  Gibraltar  or  a 
little  below.  The  Antillia  of  Beccaria  and  his  successors  may  well  be 
rather  too  far  north.  Discoverers,  knowing  nothing  of  the  dip  of  the 
isothermal  lines  southward  on  the  western  side,  would  be  likely  to 
judge  by  climate  and  productions,  thus  erring  in  the  latitude;  and  it 
is  easy  to  see  how  an  opposite  mass  of  land  reported  to  resemble 
Portugal  in  bulk,  and  conditions,  might  be  conventionalized  by  the 
map-makers  into  greater  resemblance.  A  royal  grant  of  1486  even 


'Nordenskjold:    Periplus,    p.   115.     Cf.  M.  D'Avezac :    Discoveries  of  the 
Middle  Ages. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  21 

refers  to  Antillia  as  possibly  part  of  another  continent.1  The  facts 
above  presented  seem  to  me  to  point  to  the  region  of  the  Greater 
Antilles,  as  we  very  appropriately  call  them  now,  perhaps  with  a  part 
of  the  neighboring  mainland  and  lesser  islands  outlying  at  sea,  but 
there  is  no  need  to  work  out  this  suggestion  more  particularly.  The 
names  of  the  chief  upper  island  have  puzzled  geographers,  but  if 
savages  were  there  and  acted  after  their  kind  we  need  find  no  great 
difficulty  in  accounting  for  Salvagio  or  The  Hand  of  Satan ;  and  all 
later  forms  apparently  grew  out  of  these. 

Nansen's  In  Northern  Mists  condenses  from  Diodorus  a  tale  already 
mentioned,  of  a  Phenician  ship  driven  by  tempests  to  a  region  opposite 
Africa,  which  had  both  mountains  and  lowland  tracts,  and  abounded 
in  the  lavish  gifts  of  nature.  This  description  would  fit  the  West 
Indian  region  above  mentioned,  though  hardly  anything  above  it  on 
the  American  side.  However,  it  may  equally  well  have  been  developed 
out  of  the  reported  facts  of  a  traditional  accidental  visit  to  Madeira. 
Nordenskjold  will  not  say  as  much  for  Brazil  (the  original  one) 
as  for  Antillia,  yet  it  has  a  case  that  cannot  be  ignored.  The  former 
island  of  the  map  rarely,  if  ever,  wanders  into  southern  waters, 
and  is  nearly  always  west  or  south  of  west  of  Limerick  in  the  early 
maps,  at  an  apparent  distance  which  is  absurdly  small.  But  the  four- 
teenth and  fifteenth  century  cartographers  had  a  cautious  liabit  of 
minimizing  distances,  the  perfectly  well  known  Corvo,  for  example, 
being  generally  shown  (with  that  name  as  Corvi  Marini,  Corvis 
Marinis,  or  Corvo  Marinis),  very  much  nearer  Spain  than  it  should 
be.  The  Piziganis  (1367)  show  both,  also  Brazil  in  the  usual  form 
and  place  besides  the  more  southerly  "  Ysole  Brazir  "  apparently  Man, 
to  judge  by  its  crescent  form  and  location,  though  farther  out  than 
usual  and  doubly  puzzling  by  the  approximate  repetition  of  the  upper 
name  and  the  use  of  the  Italian  plural  where  but  one  island  is  shown. 
This  part  of  the  map  shows  a  dentapod  kraken  dragging  a  seaman 
from  a  ship,  a  dragon  heart  and  an  angel  warning  navigators  back ; 
with  a  frantic  though  obscure  inscription  denouncing  the  dangers  of 
sailing  westward. 

The  original  circular  Brazil,  west  of  southern  Ireland,  is  said  some- 
times to  have  been  called  "  great,"  by  the  medieval  Irish,2  reminding 
us  of  "  Great  Ireland,"  which  was  in  the  same  quarter  or  near  it ;  and 
it  was  believed  to  be  of  such  promise  and  importance  that  numerous 
expeditions  were  sent  forth  in  search  of  it  by  the  merchants  of  Bristol 
during  the  period  between  Botoners  failure  in  1480  and  Cabot's 


J  E.  J.  Payne  :  The  Age  of  Discovery.  Cambridge  Modern  History,  vol.  I  p.  20. 
"  See  note  2,  p.  176. 


22  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

success  in  1497.  His  small  ship  Matthew  won  through  the  storm- 
belt  to  the  region  about  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence ;  and  he  evidently 
felt  that  this  was  Brazil,  for  he  uttered  hopeful  forecasts  of  finding 
silk  and  brazil-wood.  Since  it  was  midsummer,  the  extravagance  of 
this  would  be  hidden ;  besides,  his  ideas  were  no  doubt  colored  by 
acquaintance  with  lovely,  dye-yielding,  forest-clad,  fortunate  islands 
of  the  eastern  Atlantic,  and  his  words  were  perhaps  meant  chiefly 
for  more  southward  points  than  his  first  landfall,  since  he  may  have 
voyaged  a  considerable  distance  that  way. 

There  are  certain  features  of  this  Brazil  most  naturally  explained 
as  imperfect  'delineations  of  that  out  jutting  elbow  of  North  America 
which  includes  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  although  no  one  seems  to 
have  noticed  what  they  indicate.  Thus  the  Catalan  atlas  of  1375 
shows  Brazil  not  as  a  solid  land,  but  as  enclosing  a  sheet  of  water  in 
which  several  isles  appear.  Nordenskjold  x  says  they  are  seven  in 
number,  and  reads  them  as  derived  from  the  legend  of  the  Island  of 
the  Seven  Cities,  giving  no  authority  except  his  own  fancy.  But  this 
Brazil  is  too  far  north  for  the  Spanish  story,  which  most  likely  had 
to  do  with  one  of  the  Azores  or  Madeira,  being  perhaps  an  exaggera- 
tion of  some  real  migration  of  escape,  such  as  would  be  nearly  certain 
to  occur  at  the  height  of  the  Moorish  conquest.  Besides,  seven  towns 
do  not  require  an  equal  number  of  islands  in  a  great  lake  or  an  inland 
sea.  The  Spaniards  themselves  felt  no  incongruity  in  hunting  for 
those  cities,  in  1539-40,  among  the  deserts  and  mesas  of  Xew  Mexico. 

Again,  several  maps,  for  instance  Prunes's  2  1553  and  Mercator's 
1595,  show  Brazil  as  divided  into  two  islands  by  a  passage  or  channel. 
For  this  also  we  have  a  mythological  explanation  (by  Dr.  Nansen  3)  — 
namely  the  "  river  of  death."  But  again  the  conjecture  is  quite 
unsupported.  Yet  again,  in  several  maps,  Brazil  has  a  space  marked 
on  it  after  a  quaint  early  fashion  of  indicating  mountainous  regions 
and  other  natural  features,  and  this  bears  the  inscription  Montorius 
or  Mont  orious,  apparently  meaning  at  least,  that  a  portion  of  Brazil 
was  mountainous.  But  the  map  of  Dalorto  1325  or  1330  gives  its 
name  in  full  as  Insula  de  montonis  siue  de  brazile.4  (See  note  3,  p. 


If,  now,  we  apply  these  several  distinctive  features  to  the  region 
reached  by  Cabot,  we  find  this  out  jutting  corner  of  America  sur- 
rounding the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  which  contains  Prince  Edward's 
Island  and  the  Magdalen  Islands,  Brion  Island  and  others.  Its  east- 

1  Periplus,  p.  164. 

2K.  Kretschmer:    The  Discovery  of  America,  Atlas,  Tafel  4.  map  5. 

3  In  Northern  Mists,  vol.  2,  p.  228. 


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No.  5.   Karte  des  Matheus -Prunes;  1553.    (Biblioteca  Comunale  zu  Siena! 


PART  OF  MAP  OF  MATHEUS  PRUNES,   1553 

From   Kretschmer's  Atlas  of  Die  Entdeckung  Amerikas 

Showing    Brazil    divided    toy    channel 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  23 

ward  wall  is  divided  by  the  Strait  of  Cabot ;  and  the  great  estuary  of 
the  St.  Lawrence,  dividing  the  opposite  side,  might  well  be  thought  a 
continuation  of  that  channel  and  to  lead  out  again  to  the  sea.  Just 
this  was  in  fact  supposed  down  to  Carder's  voyages  or  later.  We  are 
now  aware  that  only  the  front  of  this  elbow  of  the  continent  is  insular 
(Newfoundland  and  Cape  Breton),  but  it  was  inevitable  that  in  all 
the  centuries  before  the  seventeenth  the  whole  tract,  if  known  at  all, 
should  be  regarded  as  an  island.  The  circular  external  outline  may 
have  been  some  mariner's  guess  from  the  curvature  of  Xewfoundalnd 
and  Nova  Scotia  considered  together,  and  the  scollops,  serrations,  or 
indentations  of  this  outline  presented  by  many  maps  may  indicate  a 
memory  of  real  bays  and  inlets,  though  fancy  would  be  ample  for  sup- 
plying them.  As  to  the  mountains,  there  are  considerable  elevations 
along  these  ocean- fronting  regions,  and  they  grow  distinctly  impres- 
sive beyond  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  still  within  the  land-wall  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  Gulf. 

We  have,  then,  in  a  real  region,  and  in  only  one,  the  several 
peculiar  features  above  stated,  each  offered  also  by  a  group  of  old  maps 
— as  though  every  observer  had  individually  contributed  what  most 
particularly  impressed  each  of  them,  and  was  most  vividly  remem- 
bered :  and  there  is  nothing  in  geography  or  in  the  circumstances  of 
those  times  to  make  predecessors  of  Cabot,  crossing  as  he  crossed, 
impossible  or  very  improbable.  Indeed,  that  particular  part  of  Amer- 
ica always  held  itself  out  conspicuously,  tempting  discovery.  The 
coincidences  may  be  nothing  more ;  but  the  speculation  has  probably 
a  sounder  basis  than  any  other  advanced  thus  far  concerning  this 
very  suggestive  "  island." 

f  Some  investigators,  considering  Brazil  a  reality  of  the  past,  have 
explained  it  in  another  way,  making  it  a  lesser  Atlantis  of  more 
gradual  submergence,  a  veritable  "  sunken  land,"  which  went  slowly 
down,  leaving  no  more  to  show  for  it  now  than  the  lonely,  bare, 
granite  peak  of  Rockall,  best  described  by  Mr.  Miller  Christie  in 
The  Scottish  Geographical  Magazine  for  1898.  He  does  not,  how- 
ever, suggest  its  identity  with  Brazil.  According  to  a  globe  which 
he  has  found,  there  seems  to  have  been  a  sand-bank  visible  (at  least 
sometimes)  on  the  spot  three  or  four  centuries  ago  ;but  nothing  could 
have  been  there  in  the  historical  period  to  warrant  belief  in  the  great 
Brazil ;  its  crags  must  have  been  frequently  in  sight  of  those  who 
sought  the  latter ;  and  the  situation  must  always  have  been  too  incle- 
ment. Porcupine  Bank  has  also  been  presented  in  this  connection, 
but  with  even  less  plausibility,  being  too  near  the  Irish  coast,  too 
ancient  in  its  visibility,  too  much  out  of  the  right  direction  from 


24  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

Limerick,  and  also  apparently  indicated  on  at  least  one  map  which 
distinctly  shows  Brazil  also,  farther  afield. 

The  name,  Brazil,  has  been  the  subject  of  much  discussion  and 
has  led  many  on  a  quite  misleading  trail.  For  a  generation  or  so 
after  the  first  appearance  in  cartography  of  the  original  Brazil  off 
Ireland,  so  far  as  known,  the  maps  ,begin  to  show  a  second  or  emula- 
tive Brazil  off  Portugal,  and  with  much  the  same  relation  to  Lisbon 
as  the  other  had  to  Limerick.  Its  name  varies,  as  might  be  expected, 
from  Brazi  and  Bracir  to  Buxelle,  for  the  word  was  a  foreign 
importation.  Probably  this  island *  was  Terceira  of  the  Azores, 
where  dye-woods  abounded  and  which  seems  to  be  the  Bracir  oppo- 
site Spain  of  the  1367  Pizigani  map,  a  mountain  there  still  bearing  the 
name  Brazil.  A  second  island  in  that  group  was  named  the  same 
perhaps  for  like  reason,  any  kind  of  red  dye-wood  being  known  as 
Brazil-wood ;  and  there  were  other  instances  of  such  naming,  the 
latest  holding  its  ground  sturdily  even  yet  in  eastern  South  America. 
It  is  evident  that  from  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  to  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  any  region  named  Brazil  would  be  expected 
to  yield  Brazil-wood  or  other  vegetable  dye,  such  as  orchilla,  in  justifi- 
cation of  its  name.  So  it  is  not  surprising  that  we  should  be  bidden  to 
seek  the  derivation  of  the  first  Brazil  in  just  such  material  for  dyeing. 

But  here  the  clue  fails;  for  the  origin  of  the  word  itself  is 
still  to  seek.  The  only  tenable  explanation  thus  far  given  makes 
Brazil  a  coalescence  of  two  long  obsolete  Irish  Gaelic  words,  breas 
(Prince)  and  ail  (noble — besides  other  meanings),  Breas  also  having 
been  in  ancient  use  as  the  proper  name  of  many  chiefs  and  eminent 
men.  The  Irish  local  name  usually  prefixes  I,  or  Hy,  meaning 
"  country,"  and  more  particularly  "  island,''  from  Inis,  the  Gaelic 
equivalent  of  Insula,  Isola,  Ysola,  or  Ilha.  It  might  not  be  safe  to 
translate  I.  de  Brazil  as  the  Island  of  the  Noble  Prince  or  the  Noble 
and  Princely  Island ;  but  the  general  intention  of  extolling  its  merits 
is  undeniable,  and,  on  the  fifteenth  century  map  of  Fra  Mauro  we 
even  find  a  Latin  legend  declaring  it  to  be  Berzil  the  fortunate  island 
of  the  Irish.  In  all  this  there  is  certainly  something  more  than  admira- 
tion of  a  salable  commodity  which  might  be  gathered  by  the  shipload 
and  used  for  dyeing.  Furthermore,  nobody  would  have  thought,  in 
the  beginning,  of  expecting  such  dye-woods  or  equivalent  material 
approximately  in  the  latitude  of  Ireland.  After  centuries  of  associa- 
tion between  the  name  and  the  article,  the  case  was  very  different 
(see  note  4,  p.  176). 


M.  D'Avczac :  Discoveries  of  the  Middle  Ages,  p.  35. 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  25 

The  true  history  of  the  matter  seems  to  have  been  as  follows  : 
The  original  Brazil,  west  of  Ireland,  was  found  some  time  (probably 
very  long)  before  1325  and  named  admiringly.  Afterward,  in  emula- 
tion, the  same  name  of  high  praise  and  celebration  was  applied  to 
the  beautiful  island  of  Terceira,  where  a  mountain  bears  it  still.  The 
abundant  dye-material 1  of  the  latter  came  to  be  known  by  this  geo- 
graphical name  (as  india  rubber  is,  wherever  obtained)  ;  other  islands 
which  had  the  like  were  called  Brazil,  and  at  last  it  was  hardly 
possible  to  think  of  that  name  without  thinking  of  the  dye.  This 
came  about  early  and  effectually  among  the  South-European  geo- 
graphers, who  had  borrowed  an  Irish  word  without  knowing  the 
Irish  language.  We  find  Brazir  and  Brazile  as  their  pretty  fair 
guesses  at  the  true  name  of  the  original  island,  besides  the  more 
aberrant  forms  already  mentioned,  which  were  generally  applied  to 
the  later  and  derivative  Brazils  nearer  their  own  shores.  Thus 
Brazil-wood  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  original  naming ;  but  the 
island  name  has  everything  to  do,  through  another  and  namesake 
island,  with  the  naming  of  the  widely  sought  and  greatly  coveted  dye. 

From  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  Brazil  had  usually  a 
crescent-shaped  consort  on  the  maps  called  Man,  Mon,  or  Mam, 
located  farther  to  the  southwest  and  about  in  the  latitude  of  Brittany. 
This  has  been  sometimes  identified  with  that  similarly  located  and 
most  persistent  Asmaida,  Mayda  or  Mayde  which  Humboldt  thought 
to  be  of  Arabic  naming  and  diabolical  significance ;  and  certainly  hav- 
ing names  in  two  languages  need  be  no  more  surprising  in  this  in- 
stance than  in  that  of  Madeira,  or  Teneriffe,  or  Flores.  Indeed,  Man 
with  its  distinctive  form,  appears  in  one  old  map  as  Joncele;  and 
Mayda  in  a  later  one  as  Vlandoren,  showing  that  navigators  of  still 
other  tongues  had  taken  their  turns  in  reporting.  It  must  further  be 
said  for  Mayda  that  even  in  a  mid-eighteenth  century  map  it  retains 
the  old  station  of  Man  southwest  of  Brazil;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
is  not  usually  of  a  distinctly  crescent  form. 

Sometimes,  too,  Man  has  been  identified  with  the  island  north  of 
Antillia,  the  full  name  of  which  is  understood  to  be  La  Man  de 
Satanaxio ;  but  this  is  most  likely  a  case  of  mere  verbal  coincidence, 
helped  out  by  their  share  in  a  common  evil  repute,  to  which  the 
Devil  Rock,  still  appearing  on  some  maps  in  this  quarter,  may  bear 
witness.  But  the  existence  of  this  rock  is  apparently  disproven, 
as  the  United  States  Hydrographic  Office  informs  me.  At  any 
rate,  on  the  fifteenth  century  maps  of  Beccaria,  Benincasa,  and  Bianco, 


See  Note  5,  p.  176. 


26  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

both  islands  are  shown,  although  of  very  unlike  aspect  and  in  widely 
separated  regions  of  the  sea.  It  is  altogether  more  likely  that  the 
name  Man  is  Gaelic  in  this  instance,  as  in  that  of  the  well  known  island 
in  the  Irish  Sea,  especially  as  its  nearest  and  most  constant  neighbor 
Brazil  is  Gaelic  too ;  but  the  "  Man  "  of  Bianco's  long  name  is  doubt- 
less correctly  rendered  as  Latin  in  origin.  This  would  not,  however, 
prove  a  different  original  meaning,  for  "  Man  "  is  said  to  mean 
"  Hand  "  in  obsolete  Gaelic  also. 

If  all  this  curious  shoal  of  names  and  islands  having  to  do  with  Man 
in  name  or  in  form  and  location  must  indeed  be  considered  as  one 
then  assuredly  is  that  one  the  most  protean,  elusive,  and  bewilder- 
ing of  the  whole  "  mythical  island  "  display.  It  seems  more  readily 
conceivable  to  suppose  they  have  grown  out  of  two  or  more  glimpses 
of  land,  at  widely  separated  points  and  by  men  of  different  nations 
and  languages  who  sometimes  used  a  syllable  in  common,  though  with 
different  meanings ;  and  there  is  nothing  in  this  to  preclude  those 
shores  from  belonging  to  a  single  far  extended  line,  continuous  or 
broken.  A  guess  at  Satanaxio  has  already  been  given.  Similarly  we 
may  say  that  if  Brazil  be  the  region  about  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence, 
we  might  possibly  find  Man  in  the  Bermudas,  though  the  indications 
are  .too  faint  to  warrant  more  than  a  diffident  suggestion  (see  note  6, 

P.  177). 

Reviewing  the  general  field  of  these  islands  that  for  so  long  have 
played  their  little  jests  with  geography,  it  seems  altogether  likely 
that,  before  the  acknowledged  historical  discoveries  of  the  Antilles 
and  North  America,  there  had  been  crossings  and  recrossings  of  the 
Atlantic  at  various  times  approximately  along  the  routes  of  Columbus 
and  Cabot;  possibly  also  on  one  or  more  intervening  lines.  The 
vague  intimations  which  they  gave  in  the  figures  and  traditions  of 
Antillia  and  Brazil  undoubtedly  spurred  on  both  of  these  men ;  and 
probably  one  or  more  of  them  had,  far  earlier,  through  the  related 
Great  Ireland  and  its  legends,  made  certain  the  discovery  of  Mark- 
land  and  Wineland  by  the  Icelanders.  But  we  have  no  surviving 
narratives  of  these  previous  voyages  which  may  be  tested  by  their  data 
of  natural  history,  ethnology,  and  coastline  features  as  we  test  the 
voyage-narrative  of  Thorfinn  Karlsefni. 

4._THE  PROBLEM  OF  GREAT  IRELAND 

We  acquit  St.  Brandan  of  finding  America,  but  the  fact  remains 
that  for  probably  more  than  five  centuries  men  believed  in  a  Great 
Ireland  far  west  of  Ireland  over  sea. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  27 

Two  native  boys,  captured  in  Markland,  an  American  region, 
according-  to  the  Saga  of  Eric  the  Red  and  the  Saga  of  Thorfinn 
Karlsefni,  told,  about  the  year  1006  of  a  country  beyond  their  own, 
where  people  wore  white  garments,  carried  rags  on  poles  and  shouted  ; 
from  which  it  was  inferred  that  this  must  be  the  already  known  or 
rumored  White  Men's  Land,1  sometimes  called  Great  Ireland.  We 
may  suppose  that  these  little  prisoners  were  merely  echoing  what  they 
heard  from  the  Norsemen  around  them,  to  find  favor  with  their 
masters.  But  this  would  equally  prove  what  was  then  the  prevailing 
tradition. 

We  know  that  the  early  Irish  Church  was  the  lamp  of  faith  for 
all  the  west;  that  St.  Patrick's  conquest  of  the  island  for  Christ 
aroused  in  it  a  wave  of  militant  Christian  emotion,  becoming  in  some 
souls  an  eagerness  to  spread  the  gospel,  in  others  a  wild  hunger  for 
solitude,  where  life  might  be  as  nearly  as  possible  an  unbroken  trance 
of  religious  ecstasy ;  and  that  these  combined  motives  drove  little 
shiploads  of  religious  mariners  out  in  all  directions  with  most  aban- 
doned recklessness.  The  Norse  rovers  were  counted  the  hardiest 
and  boldest  men  of  all  the  world,  but  they  could  find  no  place  where 
these  Irish  had  not  been  before  them.  It  was  so  in  the  Orkneys,  in 
the  Faroes,  and  in  Iceland — and  their  holy-isle  off  shore  from  this 
latter  home  is  still  named  for  them.  A  well-known  passage  of  the 
Landnamabok  records  their  withdrawal,  apparently  between  the 
years  885  and  1000,  leaving  Irish  books,  bells,  and  croziers  behind 
them.  But  that  is  not  their  earliest.  Dicuil,  the  monastic  Irish  geo- 
grapher, mentions  meeting,  a  hundred  years  before,  one  of  the 
brethren  who  had  been  to  Iceland ;  also  there  are  items,  of  uncertain 
value,  in  various  quarters  concerning  an  alleged  Irish  settlement  on 
that  island  a  century  earlier  still. 

In  view  of  what  they  really  achieved,  their  known  fearlessness  and 
very  special  impulsion,  why  should  it  be  incredible  that  in  one  thing 
more  they  should  outstrip  all  others,  reaching  at  some  point  the  main- 
land of  America,  though  they  might  not  be  able  to  return,  and  their 
settlement  must  die  out  if  reinforcements  failed  ?  If  their  supplanters 
in  Iceland,  the  Norsemen,  had  not  recorded  the  presence  there  of  these 
ecclesiastical  Irishmen  it  is  likely  that  we  should  be  debating  it  to-day, 
though  it  continued  so  long. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  Heimskringla  2 — "  one  of  the  great  history 
books  of  the  world,"  as  Dr.  Fiske  has  called  it,  in  a  portion  recognized 

lSec  Dr.  Brinton's  early  article  in  Historic  Mag.,  vol.  9,  p.  364  (1865),  iden- 
tifying with  Carolina  by  reason  of  Albinos. 
2Laing's  translation  of  Heimskringla,  vol.  i,  p.  216. 


28  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

as  presenting  very  ancient  material,  we  find  a  parallel  use  of  the  name 
"  Great  Sweden  "  for  an  immense  region,  the  nearest  to  Sweden 
southeastward  across  the  Baltic  sea ;  just  as  Great  Ireland  was 
conceived  to  be  nearest  to  Ireland  across  the  ocean,  southwestward. 
This  Great  Sweden  was  peopled  with  myths  and  monsters  no  less 
uncanny  and  disturbing  than  the  deadly  Uniped  which  drove  an 
arrow  into  Thorvald  Ericsson,  or  the  big-eyed  apparition  of  menace 
or  warning  which  inflicted  herself  on  Gudrid  beside  the  cradle 
and  the  baby,  as  the  Flateybook  story  will  have  it ;  a  region  obviously 
little  known  and  open  to  doubt,  yet  occasionally  reached  by  Swedes. 
There  is  no  question  now  concerning  the  reality  of  this  Great  Sweden, 
nor  that  the  references  to  it  are  historic  in  a  way,  for  it  is  simply 
Russia.  Dr.  Storm x  also  observed  this  coincidence  and  added 
Magna  Graecia  as  another  example ;  but  somehow  he  remained  of 
the  opinion  that  Great  Ireland  was  a  myth  or  a  mistaken  remembrance 
of  Iceland. 

An  old  manuscript  (codex  770  of  the  Arne  Magnean  collection), 
quoted  by  Rafn's  Antiquitates  Americans,  is  fairly  explicit  as  to 
locality : 

Now  there  are,  as  is  said,  south  from  Greenland,  which  is  inhabited,  deserts, 
uninhabited  places  and  icebergs,  then  the  Skrellings,  then  Markland,  then 
Vineland  the  Good.  Next,  and  farther  behind,  lies  Albania,  which  is  White- 
men's  Land.  Thither  was  sailing  formerly  from  Ireland;  there  Irishmen  and 
Icelanders  recognized  Ari,  the  son  of  Mar  and  Katla  of  Reykjaness,  of  whom 
nothing  had  been  heard  for  a  long  time  and  who  had  been  made  a  chief  there 
by  the  inhabitants. 

This  appears  to  have  been  prompted  by  the  following  brief  narrative 
in  the  Landnamabok  of  Ari  the  Wise  (a  descendant  of  the  vanished 
man)  who  died  in  1148.  His  Islendingabok  says  the  same,  only 
omitting  the  sources  of  information : 

Their  son  was  Ari.  He  was  driven  out  of  his  course  at  sea  to  White-Men's 
Land,  which  is  called  by  some  persons  Ireland  the  Great.  It  lies  Westward 
in  the  sea  near  Wrineland  the  Good.  It  is  said  to  be  six  doegrs  sail  west  of 
Ireland.  Ari  could  not  depart  thence  and  was  baptized  there.  The  first 
account  of  this  was  given  by  Rafn,  who  sailed  to  Limerick  and  remained  for 
a  long  time  at  Limerick  in  Ireland. 

Ari  the  Wise  adds  that  Thorkell  Gellison,  his  own  uncle,  had  heard 
the  same  story  from  Earl  Thorfinn  of  the  Orkneys. 

There  is  a  parallel  episode  in  the  Eyrbyggja  Saga  (perhaps  a 
fragment  of  the  lost  saga  of  Biorn  the  Broadwickers'  champion) 
which  has  sometimes  been  thought  a  mere  elaborated  echo  of  the 

1  G.  Storm  :  Studies  on  the  Vineland  Voyages.  Memoires  Societe  Royale  des 
Antiquaires  clu  Nord  (1888),  pp.  307-370;  also  separately  1889. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  2Q 

above,  though  Vigfusson  in  Origines  Islandicse  treats  the  events  as 
different,  while  reckoning  both  disappearances  to  be  a  little  earlier 
than  Leif's  voyage  to  Wineland.  The  ship  of  one  Gudleif,  it  seems, 
having  sailed  out  of  Dublin,  was  driven  by  storms  to  a  western  land 
where,  after  some  risk  from  the  inhabitants,  they  were  greeted  by 
Biorn,  who  was  now  a  chief  in  his  new  country,  but  who  warned 
them  away  as  from  a  place  of  danger.  Without  giving  his  name,  he 
inquired  particularly  about  a  certain  woman,  who  was  the  cause  of 
his  exile,  and  about  their  son,  sending  messages  to  both.  In  con- 
clusion, the  saga  tells  us  that  there  was  no  proof  of  their  story,  but 
that  most  people  believe  they  went  to  Great  Ireland.  Vigfusson1 
appears  to  accept  this  guarded  statement  as  presenting  a  fact ;  but 
Reeves  *  does  not  feel  the  identification  at  all  certain ;  and  doubtless 
it  is  not.  As  to  internal  evidence,  Biorn  was  on  horseback,  banners 
were  carried  before  him  and  his  people  spoke  a  language  like  Irish : 
so  wherever  Gudleif  went,  if  there  be  any  truth  in  the  details,  it  was 
not  to  America.  We  may  most  safely  treat  this  story  as  adding  no 
data  to  the  material  in  hand,  but  merely  borrowing  from  the  better 
authenticated  legend  of  Ari  Marsson,  in  developing  an  edifying 
sequel  to  a  well  knowin  Icelandic  romance  of  reckless  and  lawless  love. 
Taking  the  passages  above  quoted  with  the  Sigurdr  Stefansson 
map,  hereafter  more  fully  treated — which  shows  Helluland,  Mark- 
land  and  the  upper  part  of  Wineland,  and  bears  traditional  notes 
of  the  latter's  extension  southward  to  the  "  wild  sea "  and  to  a 
"  fiord,"  separating  it  from  the  "  America  of  the  Spaniards  " — we 
might  conjecture  Great  Ireland  to  be  New  Jersey,  or  the  eastern  shore 
of  Maryland,  or  Virginia  south  of  the  Chesapeake,  according  to  our 
choice  among  the  "  fiords."  All  are  in  the  deep  concavity  of  the 
coast  line  between  Cape  Cod  and  Cape  Hatteras ;  all  consequently 
lie  below  and  behind  the  southern  sea  front  of  New  England  and 
Long  Island.  But  precision  can  not  really  be  insisted  on ;  for  Stefans- 
son must  have  had  very  vague  ideas  of  everything  below  Cape  Breton, 
or  else  his  drawing  would  have  been  extended  in  that  direction.  The 
notes  are  perhaps  by  another  hand,  but  if  so  represent  equally  well 
the  national  tradition.  However,  Beauvois's  conjecture  locates 
Great  Ireland  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  Others  have  located  it  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  or  some  part  of  Ireland  itself.  Storm  thought  it 
a  sort  of  reflection  or  adumbration  of  Iceland.  But  all  non-American 
identifications  of  this  region  seem  rather  far-fetched. 


1  Vigfusson  and  Powell:  Origines  Islandicse,  p.  23. 
2 A.  M.  Reeves:  The  Finding-  of  Wineland  the  Good.    Final  Notes. 
3 


3O  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

The  Ari  Marsson  story  is  one  of  the  questionable  things  which 
nevertheless  may  be  true.  Earl  Thorfinn  would  undoubtedly  give  his 
best  information  to  a  descendant  of  the  lost  man ;  but  we  do  not  know 
whether  he  merely  repeated  Raf  n  or  had  learned  independently.  The 
latter' s  account  was  earlier  than  Thorkel's  we  are  told,  but  there  is  no 
pretence  that  this  Rafn  knew  anything  personally  or  made  any  close 
inquiry.  Vigfusson  decided  that  he  was  not  an  Icelander ;  and  noth- 
ing seems  to  be  known  of  him,  except  that  he  heard  the  story  in 
Limerick,  presumably  from  seafaring  people,  and  carried  it  to  Ice- 
land. Now  this  is  the  city  obviously  linked  with  the  Island  of  Brazil 
by  the  implication  of  the  earliest  fourteenth  century  maps. 

But  it  is  not  in  Limerick  sailors'  yarns,  however  possible,  nor  in 
parallel  nomenclature,  however  significant,  nor  in  obvious  infer- 
ence, popular  belief  and  geographical  statements  or  representations 
having  no  a'ssured  basis,  to  establish  an  important  fact  of  history. 
One  must  feel  that  Irish  monks,  blinded  to  everything  beyond  their 
absorbing  purpose,  may  very  well  have  been  here  before  any  Norse- 
man ;  but  it  seems  at  present  beyond  proving. 

Yet  there  is  no  warrant  for  treating  Great  Ireland  as  assuredly 
unreal,  and  reasoning  therefrom  by  analogy  against  Wineland.  The 
inability  to  prove  is  a  different  thing  from  conclusive  disproval ; 
and  we  are  so  far  from  the  latter  that  the  preponderance  of  probability 
leans  the  other  way.  Great  Ireland,  White  Men's  Land,  or  Albania 
is  simply  an  asserted  region  like  the  Island  of  Brazil,  believed  in  for  a 
long  time  by  many  people  likely  to  have  some  inkling  of  the  truth,  but 
which,  unlike  Brazil,  did  not  find  its  way  into  maps  drawn  by  men  of 
southern  Europe.  Great  Ireland  and  Brazil  Island  may  well  be  near 
neighbors,  or  overlapping  names  for  parts  of  the  same  coast.  But  at 
present  we  should  hold  the  matter  in  abeyance  for  further  light. 

5.— THE  COLONIZATION  OF  GREENLAND 

Toward  the  end  of  the  tenth  century  various  things  combined 
to  bring  the  Icelanders  to  America.  The  insular  stepping  stones 
out  from  Europe  had  grown  more  familiar  than  remote  districts  of 
their  own  island ;  the  habit  of  voyaging  in  every  direction  but  one 
made  that  exception  an  anomaly  which  could  not  last.  Furthermore, 
the  aggressive  missionary  spirit  of  Christianity  was  rising  and 
reaching  forth,  especially  from  Norway.  Iceland  thus  far  had  held 
out  nominally,  in  a  spirit  of  conservatism,  for  Odin  and  his  wife 
and  the  tremendous  warlike  Thunder ;  but  King  Olaf  *  was  urging  his 
new  doctrines,  with  appeals  to  commercial  advantage  and  menaces  of 

1  Heimskringla.  Laing's  transl.,  vol.  i,  pp.  427,  445. 


NO.    Ip  NORSE   VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  31 

personal  disfavor,  which  could  not  be  without  effect  even  in  dealing 
with  an  independent  community,  since  its  independence  was  a  little  un- 
certain and  it  was  linked  to  the  parent  country  by  many  ties.  His  per- 
sonal prestige  counted  also ;  why  need  any  one  hesitate  about  serving  a 
Heavenly  King  whom  even  the  redoubtable  Olaf  of  Norway  delighted 
to  follow  ?  Already  he  had  many  island  adherents  and  the  end  was 
plainly  near.  It  is  curious,  but  hardly  a  matter  of  surprise,  that  the 
same  year  witnessed  the  formal  adhesion  of  both  Iceland  and  Green- 
land to  the  Christian  faith,  as  well  as  the  incidental  discovery  of 
America  by  a  newly  converted  missionary  sea-captain,  a  son  of 
Eric,  sailing  out  to  the  latter  country  with  the  message  of  Christ  and 
King  Olaf. 

Turning  back  a  very  little  from  this,  the  Iceland  of  the  year  980 
and  thereabout  was  in  the  very  flood-tide  of  population  and  hopeful- 
ness, even  afflicted  with  an  excess  of  strenuous  enterprise  and  uncom- 
promising self-assertion,  which  made  every  neighborhood  faction 
eager  to  fight  for  its  sentiments  at  a  word,  every  man  painfully  con- 
cerned in  distinguishing  himself  and  his  steel  sword  on  others, 
every  member  of  a  family  bound  to  avenge  any  wrong  or  slight  to 
its  least  appendage  or  take  vengeance  indefinitely  for  some  retaliation 
perfectly  warranted  by  their  own  code. 

The  last  word  is  significant,  for  the  thing  itself  was  rarely  lost 
sight  of.  The  distorted  and  bloody  law-abiding  spirit  of  the  Icelander 
has  been  often  commented  on  as  almost  unique  in  history.  He  had 
inherited  a  common  law,  and  so  venerated  it  that  he  sent  an  envoy 
early  in  the  island  history  to  Norway  for  more  perfect  enlighten- 
ment. This  man  brought  back  a  slightly  modified  code.  It  caught 
the  popular  fancy  wonderfully  and  became  a  great  factor  in  their 
daily  lives,  though  its  precepts  and  the  decisions  under  them  for  the 
most  part  were  carried  in  memory  only.  A  singularly  artificial  system 
of  pleading  and  practice  grew  up,  every  one  being  a  stickler  for 
exactness  of  procedure  and  treating  legal  formulas  as  of  quite 
magical  efficacy — witness  the  effective  but  unintended  declaration 
of  truce  which  the  adroit  Snorri  the  Priest,  in  the  Saga  of  the 
Heathslayings,  entraps  a  conceited  memorizer  into  declaiming,  before 
the  latter  knew  that  his  most  deadly  enemy  was  beside  him. 

Most  of  the  sagas  are  indeed  almost  as  much  the  histories  of 
litigation  as  of  private  war.  The  two  things  went  together.  Duelling 
was  fully  recognized  and  relied  on  as  one  means  of  settling  disputes — 
even  at  first,  of  acquiring  and  holding  other  men's  wives  and  prop- 
erty; while  the  blood  feud  seems  to  have  had  a  semi-legal  status, 
gradually  losing  ground 'in  theory  but  remaining  popular,  so  that 


32  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

everybody  indulged  in  it,  although  a  dominant  party  or  leader  would 
sometimes  use  a  tribunal  to  ruin  an  opponent  for  having  done  so. 

Eric  Raudi  (the  Red  or  Ruddy)  had  his  full  share  of  troubles, 
and  was  never  long  without  belligerent  experiences  proper  to  a 
spirited  Iceland  gentleman — which  is  about  all  that  can  be  charged 
against  him.  Relatively  blameless  and  most  useful  men  appear 
sometimes  to  have  been  unjustly  driven  to  the  lava  fields  and  ice 
mountains,  as  in  the  case  of  Grettir,  who  robbed  those  who  expelled 
him,  that  he  might  live. 

Eric  does  not  come  into  view  as  an  aggressor.  He  had  left  Norway 
with  his  father,  as  the  best  way  to  escape  a  feud.  In  his  first  Iceland 
home  the  beginning  of  tragedy  was  a  landslide  or  avalanche  that 
did  some  damage  to  a  neighbor's  land,  whereupon  this  neighbor 
laid  the  blame  on  two  slaves  of  Eric — probably  Britons  or  Gaels — 
and  killed  them  incontinently.  Eric  flared  up  in  fury  and  killed  the 
slayer.  This  brought  about  the  usual  turbulent  "  lawsuit/'  and 
Eric  was  exiled  from  the  district ;  making  his  new  home  on  Oxney 
(Ox-island)  in  the  great  southwestern  Broadfirth. 

But  he  did  not  keep  out  of  trouble.  A  friend  borrowed  from  him 
a  pair  of  heraldic  door-posts,  used  occasionally,  too,  as  ship's  figure- 
heads— or  possibly  picture-carven  sections  of  those  partitions,  often 
strikingly  ornamented,  that  made  up  the  box-bed  enclosures  in  which 
our  modern  separate  sleeping  rooms  find  perhaps  their  origin.  They 
were  valuable  at  any  rate,  and  the  borrower  prized  them  no  less  than 
he;  so  refrained  from  returning  them  as  desired.  In  the  end  red- 
headed Eric  went  to  the  false  friend's  house  with  a  party  and  took 
them  away.  There  was  a  rally  of  the  affronted  household ;  pursuit, 
sword  in  hand ;  a  small  battle  in  the  highway,  in  which  Eric  cut 
down  a  man  or  two — thereby  winning  distinction  as  a  brisk  champion, 
not  to  be  imposed  upon,  but  also  unlimited  persecution  and  disaster. 

He  had  made  good  and  eminent  friends  in  that  neighborhood,  one 
being  Thorbiorn,  chief  of  Vifilsdale,  son  of  Vifil,  one  of  Queen  Aud's 
Dublin  men,  of  whom  she  had  said  that  he  would  be  distinguished 
anywhere,  with  land  or  without  it.  Also,  Thorbiorn,  through  his 
beautiful  daughter  Gudrid,  was  to  be  grandfather  to  the  first-born 
white  American :  so  there  were  notable  issues  hanging  on  the  door- 
posts of  contention  and  on  Eric's  honest  impulsiveness  for  good  or 
ill.  However,  they  overrode  him  and  he  was  driven  to  hide  in  out- 
lying islands  and  inconvenient  places,  while  his  enemies  hunted 
diligently  to  find  and  slay  him. 

Then  our  fugitive  called  to  mind  a  ninety-year-old  story  of  an 
unknown  land  over  the  western  sea  and  determined  to  seek  refuge 

j 


NO.    IQ  NORSE   VISITS   TO    NORTH   AMERICA — BABCOCK  33 

there.  For  one  Gimnbiorn  soon  after  the  beginning  of  settlements  in 
Iceland  had  found  the  rocky  islets  in  the  Greenland  sea  which  long 
bore  his  name ; x  and  had  passed  beyond  them  to  full  sight  of  a 
forbidding  shore,  on  which  he  remained  for  a  season.  His  account 
had  not  tempted  any  one  thither  in  later  years.  That  nameless  region 
called  for  a  man  like  Eric  to  open  it,  hardly  for  any  other — a  man 
homeless  and  endangered  but  inherently  hopeful,  at  once  astute  and 
daring,  and  far  from  unbef riended. 

Those  who  still  stood  by  him  helped  Eric  to  a  ship,  which  lay 
hidden  in  quiet  places  till  he  could  slip  away  with  a  volunteer  crew, 
quite  suddenly,  into  the  unknown. 

For  three  years  he  was  lost  to  the  world,2  three  years  devoted  to 
an  exploration  so  careful  and  thorough  that,  according  to  Rink's 
Danish  Greenland  (a  "  fascinating  book"  as  Fiske  has  rightly  called 
it)  hardly  anything  has  remained  for  later  search  unless  in  the 
absolutely  ice-clad  interior,  the  remote  north  or  the  nearly  inaccessible 
east.  Nansen  also — and  there  can  be  no  better  authority — ranks  his 
achievements  as  an  explorer  among  the  very  greatest.  Passing 
through  the  narrow  water  gates — hidden  altogether  from  the  eyes  of 
Davis  late  in  the  sixteenth  century — which  break  at  intervals  the 
Coast  of  Desolation,  he  followed  deep  and  branching  fiords  into 
an  interrupted  belt  of  verdure  and  flowers,  of  low  trees  and  shrubs 
and  plentiful  berries,  of.  tumbling  cascades  and  far  off  glacier- 
glimpses  ;  and  this  he  called  Greenland,  choosing  it  for  the  heart  of 
his  main  settlement.  Another  area,  somewhat  like  it,  about  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  up  the  shore,  was  penetrated  and  chosen,  too, 
becoming  the  site  of  the  lesser  western  settlement.  The  subsequent 
centuries  have  disclosed  no  improvement  upon  these,  and  he  seems 
to  have  acquainted  himself  equally  with  the  less  valuable  or  utterly 
savage  regions  which  he  passed  by.  There  is  no  doubt  that  he  reached 
Davis  Strait,  very  likely  passing  up  beyond  Disco,  soon  afterward 
well  known  as  Bear  Island  (Biarney).  He  may  well  have  stood  out 
far  enough  from  shore  to  see  the  other  side.  When  the  work  was 


1  For  their  disappearance   see  note  on   Ruysch's  (1507)  map  of  the  world, 
Lelewel's  Atlas.    Also  Voyages  of  the  Cabots  and  Cortereals  by  H.  P.  Biggar, 
p.  60;  also  Major's  Works;  but  Nansen  dissents,  believing  they  were  on  the 
Greenland  coast. 

2  "This  happened  five  hundred  years  before  the  rediscovery  of  America  by 
Columbus  and  Cabot.    I  think  this  Norse  exploration  of  Greenland  a  thousand 
years  ago  equals  any  modern  polar  exploration  both  as  regards  importance  and 
as  regards  the  way  in  which  it  was  carried  out."     Nansen  in  Scribner's  Mag., 
Mar.  1912.  Article  dated  Nov.  26,  IQII. 


34  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

all  done  he  brought  back  his  astonishing  report  to  the  elder  colony, 
calling  for  settlers  to  people  this  new  Greenland.  What  he  had  found 
justified  the  name  as  to  the  region  chiefly  intended,  but  the  native 
shrewdness  and  humor  of  the  man  come  out  in  his  announcement — 
presumably  among  friends — that  by  giving  it  a  good  name  they 
would  get  settlers  more  easily. 

All  at  once  he  had  become  a  popular  hero.  The  tidings  went 
over  Iceland,  awakening  an  eager  spirit  of  enterprise.  Here  was  a 
new  realm  won  for  them  by  a  man  whom  they  had  expelled.  Out- 
lawry was  disregarded  and  died  out,  hardly  needing  a  formal  rescind- 
ing. One  perfunctory  duel  for  honor's  sake  ended  the  feud.  We 
are  told  that  Eric  had  the  worst  of  it,  and  can  see  that  he  might  feel 
able  to  afford  such  a  settlement,  having  graver  matters  in  hand. 
Perhaps  he  was  beginning  to  feel  the  claims  of  a  continent.  Then 
a  large  fleet,  for  the  time  and  country,  set  out  under  his  leadership, 
losing  eleven  vessels  by  the  way,  although  the  major  part  won  through 
and  safely  established  themselves  in  their  new  home  about  the  year 
985.  The  center  of  this  colony  was  at  Eric's  home,  Brattahlid,  near 
one  of  the  branches  of  what  is  now  known  as  Igalico  inlet.  Appar- 
ently he  was  the  first  judge  as  well  as  chief  personage.  Not  far 
away,  toward  the  other  branch,  the  Cathedral  of  Gardar  was  built 
a  hundred  and  forty  years  later.  It  still  stands,  though  perhaps 
an  early  fifteenth  century  restoration,  as  the  ruined  "  Kakortok 
church."  In  all  that  region  Eskimo  names  have  supplanted  Norse, 
except  a  few  added  by  Danes  in  the  last  two  centuries.  Yet  from 
Greenland  came  the  Lay  of  Atli  and  possibly  Edda  poems  *  and  Dr. 
Nansen  supposes  that  a  special  school  of  versification  had  its  origin 
there. 

No  one  who  follows  the  career  of  Eric,  as  outlined  by  the  often 
unsympathetic  saga-men,  will  grudge  him  this  hardly  won  triumph. 
Few  characters,  if  any,  are  more  clearly  presented  in  history  ;  few  are 
stronger  and  more  interesting.  A  sea-king  who  never  marauded ; 
a  just  man,  careful  of  what  was  confided  to  him,  yet  insisting 
promptly  on  his  rights  at  every  cost ;  a  conservative,  who  could  turn 
explorer  off  hand  with  better  results  than  the  work  of  the  very  best ; 
a  deadly  fighter  who  fought  defensively  only ;  a  man  of  hospitality, 
cordiality,  cheerfulness,  who  never  complained  except  when  his 
Christian  wife  turned  against  him  for  remaining  a  pagan. 

He  made  the  Norse  Greenland,  which  stood  as  his  monument  for 
nearly  five  hundred  years.  He  gave  the  name  by  which  we  know  it 


1  G.  Vigfusson :  Prolegomena  to  the  Sturlunga  Saga.  p.  191. 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  35 

still.  If  Greenland  be  America,  he  was  the  first  explorer  of  any  part 
of  America,  so  far  as  we  know.  He  may  have  been  the  first  white 
man  to  view  the  more  immediate  American  shores.  At  any  rate  he 
gave  to  the  world,  and  sent  forth  upon  his  ventures,  the  historic 
Leif  who  is  first  of  record  as  making  that  discovery.  He  also  aided 
in  sending  forth  the  expedition  which  bore  Thorfinn  Karlsefni  and 
Gudrid  to  these  shores,  giving  Gudrid  in  marriage  from  his  house 
and  seeing  his  son  Thorvald  sail  of!  to  death  in  their  company. 

6.— THE  VOYAGES  OF  MADOC  AND  THE  ZENO 
BROTHERS 

A  few  early  westward  voyages  on  the  Atlantic  ofTer  at  first  glance 
the  hope  of  throwing  light  upon  Wineland  problems,  but  they  really 
supply  very  little  information.  Nicholas  of  Lynn,  whose  work  has 
been  traced  as  far  as  possible  by  De  Costa1  and  others,  has  left  on 
various  maps  indications  of  theories  derived  from  his  northern 
explorations  about  the  year  1360.  He  seems  to  have  reached  Ice- 
land, making  a  quick  passage  and  presumably  going  farther ;  but  un- 
til his  lost  narrative  "  Inventio  Fortunata  "  shall  be  found,  who  can 
tell  where  he  went? 

Madoc  of  Wales  has  been  put  forward  intermittently  for  centuries 
with  zeal  as  the  first  colonizer  of  America.  Welsh  Indians,  by  blood 
or  language,  were  formerly  (as  was  supposed)  discovered  by  his 
advocates  in  Florida,  Mexico,  the  Carolina  mountains,  the  Hopi 
pueblos,  and  the  Mandan  villages  on  the  Missouri.  One  man 
declared  that  he  was  greeted  in  Welsh  in  the  lobby  of  a  Washington 
hotel  by  an  "  Asquaw "  chieftain  of  Virginia  "  wearing  ostrich 
feathers." '  Stephens's  newly  republished  "  Madoc  "  is  a  veritable 
museum  of  these  futile  oddities.  There  is  no  room  for  Welsh,- 
recent  or  archaic,  on  our  Indian  linguistic  map,  and  the  world, 
has  grown  incredulous  about  it.  Welsh  people  might,  however, 
have  come  and  lost  their  language ;  and  they  might  blend  with  the  red 
men  so  as  to  be  indistinguishable  in  their  descendants.  We  suppose 
such  a  result,  or  extermination,  to  have  occurred  in  the  case  of  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh's  colony,3  the  Norse  Greenlanders  and  the  Spanish 
expedition,  going  eastward,  which  vanished  in  the  Llano  Estacado. 
We  know  it  was  so  in  the  case  of  the  Spanish  Chilians,  overwhelmed 


1  B.  F.  De  Costa :  Arctic  Exploration.    Amer.  Geogr.  Soc.  Bull.,  1880,  p.  163. 
2Th.  Stephens:  Madoc  (ed.  1893). 

3W.  Strachey:    The   Historic   of  Travaile  into  Virginia.    (See    Powhatan's 
statement.) 


36  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

and  absorbed  by  the  Araucanians.  And  one  of  the  wildest  tribes  of 
the  Peruvian  mountains  is  said  to  be  quite  certainly  in  part  of 
European  descent  (which  does  not  show  at  all)  as  a  result  of  a  lost 
white  city  planted  unluckily  by  a  viceroy  to  overawe  them.  However, 
we  have  no  proof  of  such  experience  in  the  case  of  Madoc's  followers. 

Across  the  ocean  there  is  some  little  evidence  for  him ;  but 
either  late  or  uncertain.  That  part  of  the  History  of  Cambria 
attributed  to  Caradog  of  Llancarvan  (died  1152)  mentions  Madoc 
in  its  last  paragraph  among  "  Prince  Owen  Gwynedd's  many  children 
by  divers  women."  Certain  abbeys  brought  the  work  down  to  the 
year  1270.  A  well  known  English  translation  of  about  1559  by 
Humphrey  Lloyd  was  afterward  edited  and  extended  by  D.  Powell 
with  great  pains,  and  published  in  1584.  Both  of  these  modern 
writers  made  interpolations,  which  there  was  an  honest  attempt  to 
distinguish  by  notes  and  markings ;  but  they  leave  the  reader  uncer- 
tain as  to  the  actual  facts. 

Thus  the  statement  that  "  Madoc  left  the  land  and  prepared  certain 
ships  and  men  and  munition  and  sought  adventures  by  seas,  sailing 
west,  leaving  the  coast  of  Ireland  so  far  north  that  he  came  to  lands 
unknown,"  may  be  due  to  some  forgotten  brother  of  a  monastery ; 
or  to  Lloyd  the  translator  nearly  five  centuries  afterward,  as  the  next 
sentences  undoubtedly  are. 

Furthermore,  when  we  find  Powell  quoting  from  Gutyn  Owens,  an 
early  writer,  to  the  effect  that  Madoc  left  some  of  his  people  in  the 
new  country  when  he  returned  to  Wales  and  that  he  afterward 
sailed  to  rejoin  them  with  ten  ships,  it  is  baffling  to  learn  from 
Stephens  that  close  inquiry  fails  to  supply  any  original  and  that  the 
passage  is  not  in  the  manuscript  work  to  which  it  most  often  has 
been  credited.  Yet  assuming  that  Powell  read  it  in  some  lost  book 
of  Owens,  and  even  that  it  be  true,  we  still  are  not  informed  where 
Madoc  went. 

Stephens  also  winnowed  and  sifted  a  number  of  pre-Columbian 
allusions  or  supposed  allusions  to  Madoc  in  Welsh  poems ;  giving 
more  accurate  translations,  which  offer  such  unnautical  substitutes 
as  "  walls  "  and  "  fierceness  "  for  the  sea-words  relied  upon.  There 
remains  only  a  small  residuum,  vaguely  celebrating  his  taste  for 
navigation.  We  .may  add  Lloyd's  reference  to  certain  popular 
"  fables  "  of  Madoc  current  in  the  sixteenth  century,  but  a.  specimen 
would  be  more  valuable  than  the  translator's  easy  disparagement. 

Davies,  quoted  and  followed  by  Stephens,1  believed  that  Madoc 
died  in  Wales  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin  before  the  year  1170,  the 

1  Th.  Stephens:  Madoc  (ed.  1893),  p.  212;  see  also  p.  210. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  37 

date  usually  alleged  for  his  voyage.  This  is  fortified  by  an  ancient 
quotation  or  so  and  by  a  reminder  that  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  who 
missed  very  little  which  seemed  noteworthy,  was  in  that  neighbor- 
hood within  18  years  afterward  and  tells  us  nothing  about  Madoc's 
voyage — a  consideration  which  one  may  appreciate  without  any 
Welsh  scholarship.  Moreover,  this  same  observant  Gerald  explic- 
itly blames  the  Welsh  for  their  lack  of  interest  in  shipping.  They 
seem  to  have  had  little  to  do  with  the  ocean  since  Arthur's  time, 
as  compared  with  the  Irish  and  Bretons.  However,  the  growth  of 
a  legend  of  American  colonization  from  the  assassination  of  a  Welsh 
prince  is  not  conclusively  made  out  nor  easily  thinkable. 

It  seems  more  likely  that  he  sailed,  at  first  on  a  westward  course 
as  stated,  which,  if  continued  far  enough,  might  land  him  in  Nova 
Scotia  or  on  the  shore  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  But  Madoc  of 
Wales  would  have  no  compass,  though  the  Arabs  had  it,  and  the 
Spaniards  through  them ;  x  and  though  the  troubabour  Guiot  de 
Provins  was  to  mention  it  only  four  years  later;  and  Madoc  had 
no  particular  aim  that  we  know  of,  so  that,  either  by  accident  or 
design,  his  helm  may  have  shifted  widely.  Armorica,  Madeira,  and 
other  possible  landfalls  have  been  suggested  ;  but  there  is  no  evidence 
for  any  of  them. 

If  the  story  of  Madoc  is  baffling  through  its  meagerness  approach- 
ing a  vacuum,  the  Zeno  Brothers  ' 2  narrative  is  likewise  baffling  by 
its  exuberance  and  confusion.  Nicolo  Zeno  published  the  story  at 
Venice  in  1588,  as  his  best  restoration  of  a  map  and  letters,  which 
he  had  found  when  a  boy  among  family  documents  and  torn  or  other- 
wise damaged  unthinkingly.  His  work  seems  mainly  done  in  good 
faith  and  to  celebrate  the  prowess  of  the  earlier  Zeni,  with  no 
thought  of  pitting  them  against  Columbus ;  but  he  used  divers  maps 
and  books  to  help  him  out  and  conjectured  at  random,  and  even 
wilfully  decorated  a  little,  as  though  to  make  amends  for  very 
despiteful  usage.3  Thus  "  Icaria  "  in  the  original — possibly  Kerry 
or  St.  Kilda — suggests  the  myth  of  Daedalus,  which  forthwith  comes 
headlong  into  the  story.  Again  he  must  needs  help  out  a  fisherman's 
yarn  of  travel  among  Indians  in  America  by  a  little  recently  acquired 
knowledge  of  Aztec  temples  and  human  sacrifices.  There  was  also  a 
great  shifting  of  harbors  and  towns.  His  most  conspicuous  invention 


1  Th.  Stephens  :  Madoc,  p.  195. 

2  R.  H.  Major:  The  Voyages  of  the  Venetian  Brothers  Zeno. 

3F.W.  Lucas:    The   Annals  of  the  Voyages  of  the  Brothers  Zeno  (1895), 
pp.  8,  83,  99. 


3§  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

is  Frisland,  a  huge  island  south  of  Iceland,  identified  by  Mr.  Lucas  * 
with  the  Resland  of  Edrisi — apparently  Estland  or  Shetland  (some 
say  Iceland)  ;  though  Mr.  Major  thought  Frisland  the  Faroe-islands, 
blended  by  misunderstanding  into  one  and  shifted  to  unfrequented 
seas,  where  it  might  be  credible  (see  note  7,  p.  177).  In  fact  it  took 
root  there,  to  the  confusion  of  explorers  and  cartographers  for  several 
centuries.  Sigurdr  Stefansson  makes  it  a  very  little  one  on  his  map ; 
which  bears  the  apologetic  note  : 

"  I  do  not  know  what  island  this  may  be  unless  the  one  that  the 
Venetian  found." 

In  getting  back  to  the  original  communication,  we  are  further 
baffled  by  its  unintended  ingenuity  of  misunderstanding,  a  habit  of 
prodigious  exaggeration  and  a  genius  for  transforming  words.  When 
we  read  that  Zichmi,  ruling  in  Frisland,  made  war  against  the  King 
of  Norway,  it  means,  according  to  Major,  that  Earl  Sinclair  of  the 
Orkneys  had  a  skirmish  with  a  forgotten  claimant  to  a  part  of  his 
territory.  Later,  a  warm  spring  on  an  island  of  a  Greenland  fiord, 
beside  which  a  monastery  once  stood,  evolves  a  monastery  and  monk- 
ruled  village  on  an  active  volcanic  mountain  with  commercially 
profitable  gardening,  carried  on  by  the  aid  of  hot  water  pipes — an  item 
borrowed,  according  to  Lucas,  from  sixteenth  century  Norway  or 
Iceland.  You  soon  can  measure  the  value  of  such  narrative  and  make 
due  allowance  for  its  exaggerations.  There  is  usually  some  germ  of 
truth  to  be  found  and  the  Greenland  part  of  their  map  has  an  accuracy 
in  detail  which  appears  to  mark  it  as  based  on  personal  observation  or 
information  (see  Major)  that  Europe  could  not  supply,  although 
even  this  argument  in  favor  of  the  story  has  been  undermined  by 
Lucas  and  the  discovery  of  some  ancient  maps. 

It  seems  that  an  earlier  Nicolo  Zeno,  being  cast  by  chance  on  the 
coast  of  Frisland  about  1390,  was  saved  from  the  rude  inhabitants 
by  Zichmi,  lord  of  the  region,  who  took  the  Italian  into  his  service. 
Nicolo  participated  in  the  wars  then  and  afterward  carried  on  by 
the  Earl,  and  sent  for  his  brother  Antonio,  who  joined  him  in  Fris- 
land, took  part  in  the  Shetland  Campaign,  and  wrote  letters  to  their 
brother  Carlo  at  home.  A  certain  Faroese  fisherman  having  brought 
back  after  a  long  absence  a  tale  of  strange  adventures  in  unknown 
countries  southwest  of  Greenland,  Zichmi  fitted  out  an  expedition  to 
seek  them.  This  expedition,  however,  found  only  "  Icaria,"  Iceland, 
and  Greenland,  with  some  minor  islands  known  and  unknown.  The 
brothers  Nicolo  and  Antonio  accompanied  Zichmi,  perhaps  about 


Op.  dt.,  p.  105. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  39 

1400,  and  wrote  a  narrative  of  this  voyage,  which  was  recast  by  the 
younger  Nicolo.  It  gives  our  last  glimpse  of  civilized  life  in  Green- 
land, if  accepted  as  veritable.  The  monastery  by  the  hot  spring  and 
a  curious  description  of  kayaks  as  in  use  among  the  people,  may  be 
taken  hesitatingly  as  credentials.  L'ucas  hardly  makes  out  a  case 
against  them.  The  warm  Greenland  1  spring  thus  utilized  also  occurs 
twice  in  Hans  Egede's  citations. 

It  would  seem  that  the  white  ami  Eskimo  races  were  then  inter- 
changing arts,  and  perhaps  the  racial  blending  had  begun.  Similarly, 
there  is  mention  elsewhere 2  of  a  Norse  visitor  for  two  winters, 
beginning  in  1385,  who  had  two  Eskimo  servants.  It  was  many  years 
since  Ivar  Bardsen,  then  or  afterward  steward  of  the  Bishop, 
accompanied,  probably  about  1337,  an  expedition  of  relief  to  the 
western  settlement,  threatened  by  the  Eskimo — and  found  that  colony 
devoid  of  human  life.  A  few  deserted  cattle  and  nothing  more 
remained  as  relics  of  the  earliest  of  the  Greenland  mysteries. 
The  preceding  decade  affords  the  curious  evidence  of  an  extant 
official  receipt  for  the  Greenland  contribution  of  1327  (in  walrus 
tusks)  to  the  expenses  of  a  crusade.3  These  facts  and  the  1347 
voyage  to  Markland  show  that  the  Eastern  settlement  at  least  was 
alive  and  in  touch  with  both  continents.  Through  the  second  half 
of  the  fourteenth  century  we  must  suppose  that  the  Eskimo  were 
drawing  nearer  and  gaining  ground,  especially  after  the  return  to 
Norway  in  or  before  1364  of  the  relief  expedition  of  1355  under  Paul 
Knutson.4  About  1379  there  seems  to  have  been  another  Eskimo 
attack,  costing  the  colony  18  men.  But  probably  peace  reigned  in 
1400  and  as  late  as  1409,  when  a  young  Icelander  visiting  Greenland 
was  married  at  Gardar  by  the  Bishop  and  even  after  1410,  when 
the  last  authentic  voyage 3  from  Iceland  to  Greenland  occurred. 

About  1418  the  storm  broke  on  them,  according  to  a  papal  letter 
of  1448,  in  the  form  of  a  fleet  of  heathen,  devastation,  captivity, 
and  death.  But  the  destruction  was  not  complete  and  in  1448  the 
colony  was  getting  together  again.  A  dubious  entry 6  of  1484 
mentions  annual  voyages  until  then  from  Bergen  to  Greenland. 
Another  papal  letter,7  about  ten  years  afterward,  announces  the 

1H.  Egede:  A  Description  of  Greenland,  pp.  20,  21. 
2W.  Thalbitzer :  The  Eskimo  Language,  p.  29. 
3H.  J.  Rink:  Danish  Greenland,  ed.  by  R.  Brown,  p.  28. 
4  G.  Storm:   Studies  on  the  Vineland  Voyages,  1899. 
5H.  J.  Rink:  Danish  Greenland,  ed.  by  R.  Brown   p.  29. 
6W.  Thalbitzer:    The  Eskimo  Language,  p.  29. 

7J.  E.Olson:   The  Voyages  of  the  Norsemen.    Orig.   Narr.  Early  Amer 
Hist.,  Vol.  i. 


4°  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

sailing  of  a  new  bishop,  who  never  seems  to  have  reached  the  colony 
or  even  Iceland.  An  effort  was,  however,  made  to  reopen  communi- 
cations about  1492,  but  nothing  came  of  it.1  After  that,  there  is  noth- 
ing except  the  hints  and  rumors  gathered  by  the  loving  care  of  Hans 
Egede,2  while  he  was  hoping  against  hope  that  some  remnants  might 
survive  behind  the  ice-barrier  of  the  eastern  Greenland  coast  in  deep 
fiords,  which  have  since  been  explored  by  Lieutenant  (later  Com- 
modore) Holm3  of  the  Danish  navy  and  others,  yielding  nothing. 
Admittedly  the  most  nearly  authentic  of  these  reports,  as  well  as  the 
most  thrilling  experience,  was  that  of  the  sixteenth  century  Iceland 
Bishop,  Amund  of  Skalholt,  who  was  driven  by  rough  weather  so 
close  to  Heriulfsness  that  he  heard,  or  thought  he  heard,  the  lost 
people  driving  home  their  cattle  and  sheep  in  the  twilight. 

Probably  we  shall  never  know  just  when  the  last  flicker  of  civilized 
life  died  out  of  Norse  Greenland ;  but  it  may  well  have  been  some- 
where between  the  middle  and  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
Darkness  falls,  and  there  is  an  end ;  but  the  uncertainty  and  the 
marked  pathos  of  this  chapter  of  old  history  makes  any  item  very 
welcome,  even  if  distorted  (see  note  8,  p.  177). 

Major's  skill  in  clearing  away  the  fogs  from  the  adventures  of 
the  Zeni  among  the  island  clusters  and  in  Greenland  has  natur- 
ally been  less  available  for  America.  The  fisherman  who  caused  the 
memorable  western  expedition  died  before  it  started ;  but  the  regions 
called  by  them  Estotiland  and  Drogeo  appear  on  their  map  as  roughly 
corresponding  to  Newfoundland  and  Nova  Scotia.  Kohl4  has 
suggested  East-outland  as  a  derivation  of  the  name,  with  reference 
to  the  eastward  protrusion  of  that  great  insular  mass  of  land ;  but 
there  seems  a  difficulty  in  accounting  for  the  adoption  of  this  English 
form.  Lucas 5  rather  improbably  derives  Estotiland,  by  not  very 
confident  conjecture,  from  the  beginning  of  an  old  motto.  Beauvois 6 
has  an  interesting  suggestion  that  Estotiland  is  a  misreading  of 
Escociland  (Scotland),  perhaps  not  clearly  written  in  the  original 
letter ;  the  name  having  been  transferred  to  America  as  Great  Ireland 
had  been  long  before,  and  as  Nova  Scotia  and  Cape  Breton  were 
also  in  later  times.  This  seems  probable. 


1J.  Fischer:  The  Discoveries  of  the  Northmen  in  America,  p.  51. 
2H.  Egede:  A  Description  of  Greenland,  pp.  14-22. 

3G.  Holm:  Explorations  of  the  East  Coast  of  Greenland.      Meddelelser  om 
Gronland,  vol.  9. 

4 The  Discovery  of  Maine,  p.  105. 
5  Voyages  of  the  Zeno  Brothers,  before  cited. 
6 La  Decouverte  du  Nouveau  Monde  par  les  Irlandais,  p.  90. 


NO.    19  NORSE   VISITS   TO    NORTH    AMERICA — BABCOCK  4! 

The  informant  averred  that  he  had  been  driven  thither  by  storms 
with  the  crew  of  a  small  fishing  vessel ;  and  was  afterward  sent 
with  them  southward  by  the  chief  of  the  country  to  a  region  called 
Drogeo  or  Drogio,  on  one  map  Droceo.  Being  captured  by  savages, 
he  was  transferred  from  tribe  to  tribe  far  southwestward,  reaching 
a  country  of  temples  and  sacrifices,  until  by  good  fortune  he  escaped 
and  succeeded  in  making  his  way  back  to  Estotiland  (Escociland)  ; 
thence  crossing  to  Greenland  and  reaching  home  at  last. 

Drogio  has  also  caused  much  speculation,  the  preferred  theory 
being  that  it  is  native  American  more  or  less  changed.  But  perhaps 
this  name  also  had  a  European  origin,  Italian  in  source  or  trans- 
mission. On  Mercator's  map  of  1595,  we  find  the  words  Drogio 
dit  Cornu  Gallia  (compare  Cornouailles  of  Brittany)  applied  to  Cape 
Breton  island;  which  is  too  far  removed  from  the  mainland,  but 
unmistakable  in  its  distinctive  form.  There  is  no  mistaking,  either, 
his  reference  to  the  Breton  horn  protruding  from  northwestern 
France  into  the  Atlantic,  which  gave  its  name,  early  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  through  its  seafaring  sons,  to  this  other  long,  elevated 
northern  cape  or  ness  discovered  in  the  new  world.  This  was  always 
the  next  land  below  Newfoundland ;  it  was  also  lower  in  elevation, 
perhaps  in  part  very  much  so,  as  fully  half  the  island  certainly  is  now. 
Possibly  deroga,  derogare,  or  dirogare,  if  carelessly  treated,  might 
evolve  a  Drogio  fitting  both  meanings,  if  the  Italian  word  may 
dispense  with  the  moral  implication  of  "  derogatory."  Mercator's 
identification,  being  but  seven  years  later  than  the  publication  of  the 
Zeno  story,  and,  therefore,  that  of  a  geographer  who  could  have  con- 
sulted the  publisher  and  author  on  any  doubtful  and  important  point, 
must  be  taken  as  more  nearly  authoritative  than  anything  else  which 
we  have.  Ortelius,  about  the  same  time,  showed  Drogio  even  farther 
from  the  mainland  and  with  less  fidelity  to  outline,  but  the  intent  is 
the  same. 

This  seems  a  revulsion  from  the  more  frequent  mapping  of  Cape 
Breton  Island  as  integral  with  Nova  Scotia,  which  was  less  literally 
true,  yet  nearer  the  actual  fact ;  for  the  Gut  of  Canso  has  never  been 
more  than  a  water-thread,  and  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  the 
continuous  southwestern  travel  indicated  by  the  story,  with  hardly 
appreciable  addition  of  canoe-ferriage. 

Dr.  Fiske  is  at  pains  to  present  parallels  to  the  tale  of  this  castaway 
in  the  narratives  of  the  romancing  Ingram,  and  the  more  historic  as 
well  as  more  widely  ranging  Cabeza  de  Vaca.  We  might  add  Selim 
of  Barbary,  who  appeared  in  colonial  times  on  the  wilderness  border 
of  Virginia,  having  been  carried  from  New  Orleans  to  the  Shawnees 


42  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

on  the  Ohio,  and  worked  through  the  Indian  country  and  the 
mountains,  as  related  by  Bishop  Meade.1  Nothing  in  the  story  of  the 
Zeno-informant  is  more  incredible  than  Ingram's 2  extravagances 
about  the  city  of  Norumbega,  followed  by  other  writers  and  perhaps 
developed  from  some  real  though  temporary  Penobscot  Indian  town. 
Yet  the  first  part  of  the  former  offers  us  a  civilized  or  nearly  civilized 
Newfoundland  nation,  the  middle  is  too  general  and  easily  invented 
to  be  quite  convincing ;  and  the  southern  part,  nearer  the  end,  is  a 
meager  and  faint  reflection  of  Spanish  observations  in  Mexico. 

Lucas,  however,  must  be  wrong  in  ascribing  the  whole  story  to 
the  latter  source,  for  the  Estotiland  and  Drogio  portions  have  no 
Spanish  earmarks  and  are  placed  too  far  north.  On  the  other  hand, 
Kohl  in  the  Discovery  of  Maine  is  equally  inadequate,  finding  only, 
as  he  thinks,  the  reflection  of  the  general  American  knowledge  of 
Greenland  Norsemen ;  for  these  could  have  had  no  such  illusions 
about  their  neighbor,  Markland,  then  known  for  several  centuries ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  they  may  be  supposed  quite  ignorant  of  semi- 
civilized  teocallis,  temples,  and  human  sacrifices.  About  all  that 
could  be  obtained  in  Greenland  for  this  little  Zeno  exposition  of 
fourteenth  century  America  was  the  existence  of  a  timbered  New- 
foundland, its  protrusion  into  the  ocean,  the  fact  that  it  was  inhabited, 
the  great  cape  below  it,  the  sea  between  and  behind,  some  notion  of 
a  lower  coast  peopled  by  savages,  and  some  lingering  tradition  of  a 
warmer  and  more  fertile  region  lower  still,  and  effectively  guarded 
in  like  manner. 

A  faint  shadow  of  corroboration  may  be  found  in  Cormack's8 
account  of  the  surprising  works  of  industry  of  the  Beothuk  in  1828 
and  what  Cartwright 4  has  to  tell  us  more  than  half  a  century  earlier. 
There  was  surely  something  of  the  Norse  indomitableness  about  a 
people  who,  after  centuries  of  encompassment  and  continual  hostility, 
could  still  refuse  submission  or  even  amicable  relations,  choosing 
destruction  instead,  and  who  inspired  a  terror  that  outlived  them  in 
their  Micmac  enemies  and  successors.  When  we  read  of  their  thirty 
miles  and  more  of  deer-fences  in  use  when  they  were  confined  to  a 
small  area  in  the  northwest  of  the  island ;  of  their  stone  causeways, 


1Wm.  Meade:  The  Old  Churches,  Ministers  and  Families  of  Virginia,  vol. 

i,  P-  34- 

2M.  Lescarbot:  Nova  Francia.  Erondelle's  transl.,  p.  47.  Also  Champlain's 
Voyages,  p.  46.  Orig.  Narr.  Early  Amer.  Hist. 

3W.  E.  Cormack:  Journey  in  Search  of  the  Red  Indians  in  Newfoundland; 
Edinb.  Philos.  Journ.,  vol.  6,  1829,  p.  327. 

4Capt.  Cartwright  and  his  Journal;  republished  1911;  before  cited. 


NO.    19  NORSE   VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  43 

notable  food-preserving  inventions,  and  ingenuity  in  boat-building 
and  husbanding  their  few  resources,  it  seems  possible  enough  that 
about  the  year  1380  there  may  have  been  some  Newfoundland 
palisaded  town,  rather  more  advanced  than  the  Hochelaga  which 
Cartier  found  and  which  was  soon  obliterated. 

But  this  Italian  literary  curiosity  of  the  Zeni  is  not  such  a  thread  of 
evidence  as  will  bear  any  serious  strain. 

7.— ARE  THERE  NORSE  RELICS  IN  AMERICA? 

If  Icelanders  or  Greenlanders  reached  our  Atlantic  shore,  there 
will  always  be  a  possibility  that  some  trace  of  their  former  presence 
may  be  found.  Whether  it  amounts  to  probability  must  depend  on 
the  extent  and  character  of  that  presence.  There  is  a  vast  difference 
between  permanent  occupancy1  by  thousands  of  people,  erecting 
stone  houses  and  bridges,  churches,  and  monasteries,  in  a  region 
like  southern  Greenland,  where  for  centuries  there  were  no  other 
inhabitants  and  the  forces  of  nature  tended  toward  preservation,  and 
the  hasty  visits  of  exploring  parties  and  wood-cutters,  or  even  brief 
attempts  at  colonizing  a  bit  of  forest  country,  subject  to  invasion  by 
savages,  fire,  and  decay. 

Inscriptions  deeply  graven  might  last  even  until  now  in  dry  and 
protected  places.  But  why  should  there  be  inscriptions?  Laing 
reports  in  his  preface  to  Heimskringla  that  "  few  if  any  runic  inscrip- 
tions of  a  date  prior  to  the  introduction  of  Christianity  are  found  in 
Iceland,"  while  Greenland,  though  then  already  occupied  for  15 
years,  and  for  centuries  afterward,  has  not  yielded  one.  There  is  not 
even  a  letter,  runic  or  Latin,  or  a  character  of  any  kind,  on  the  stand- 
ing cathedral  walls  of  Gardar  or  anywhere  within  its  compass,  though 
repeated  excavations  have  exhausted  all  the  ground.  Graah  2  noticed 
a  tablet-like  wall-stone  with  parallel  lines  on  its  inner  face,  which  may 
have  been  prepared  for  such  use,  but  the  purpose  was  never  carried 
out.  There  are  perhaps  half  a  dozen  Greenland  gravestone  inscrip- 
tions of  the  conventional  sort,  in  one  alphabet  or  the  other,  beginning 
with  the  twelfth  century ;  and  far  up  Baffin  Bay  a  miniature  monument 
was  found  about  1824,  bearing  the  names  of  men  who  had  "  cleared 
land  "  or  performed  some  other  operation  there  at  a  date  near  Whit- 
suntide in  the  year  1135,  as  some  read  it,  though  others  put  the  year 
a  century  or  two  later,  apparently  either  as  a  preemption  entry  or  a 
record  of  exploring  achievement.  Nothing  more  than  this  in  the  way 


'H.  J.  Rink:  Danish  Greenland. 

2\V.  A.  Graah  :  Narr.  of  an  Expedition  to  the  East  Coast  of  Greenland,  p.  40. 


44  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

of  inscriptions  from  Greenland's  estimated  population  of  ten  thou- 
sand (Dr.  Rink)  with  an  organized  life  exceeding  in  duration  that 
of  English-speaking  America  from  the  beginning  until  now!  Brat- 
tahlid's  doorway-lintel,  perhaps  of  the  year  995,  still  held  its  old  posi- 
tion in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  but  this  mansion  of 
Eric  and  the  homes  of  his  long  dominant  descendants  have  not 
favored  us  with  one  carven  line  or  letter.  Surely  we  must  think  that 
these  people  were  not  given  to  expressing  themselves  in  that  way. 

But  human  opposition  and  eagerness  were  certain  to  discover  sup- 
posed runes  and  confirmatory  vestiges  in  America  when  attention 
was  once  directed  to  the  subject.  Rafn's  voluminous  Antiquitates 
Americanae  led  the  way  with  the  Newport  "tower"  (since  clearly 
shown  to  have  been  only  Governor  Arnold's  windmill  patterned  on 
an  older  one  in  his  former  English  home)  and  other  equally  random 
fancies.  Longfellow  embodied  one  of  these  speculations  in  a  spirited 
ballad,  immortalizing  that  squalid  Fall  River  "  skeleton  in  armor," 
whose  copper  breast-tablet  and  belt  only  antedated  the  ornaments 
found  by  Gosnold  *  in  use  on  Cape  Cod,  with  no  hope  at  all  of  such 
honor. 

The  Dighton  rock-pictures,  with  the  central  row  of  tallymarks, 
have  been  many  times  published  since  the  first  copying  by  Dr.  Dan- 
forth  in  1680.  The  present  rate  of  obliteration  would  have  wiped 
them  quite  away  before  now,  if  existing  conditions  had  been  estab- 
lished then  or  a  little  earlier.2  Schoolcraft  obtained  an  erudite 
Algonquian  reading  from  his  Ojibway  experts,  although  the  tally 
marks  baffled  them,  and  these  he  called  runes,  but  afterward  with- 
drew the  exception.  As  quoted  by  Colonel  Mallery,3  his  final  verdict 
was :  "  It  is  of  purely  Indian  origin,  and  is  executed  in  the  peculiar 
symbolic  character  of  the  Keekeewin."  These  tally-like  marks  were 
still  visible  when  I  visited  the  rock  in  1910,  but  might  apparently  have 
been  made  by  any  one  who  could  carve  the  numeral  I  or  an  X- 

On  the  west  shore  of  Mt.  Hope  Bay,  near  that  noted  elevation, 
is  a  boulder  marked  on  its  top,  as  it  now  lies,  with  the  outline  of  a 
boat,  having  the  bow  enlarged  or  uplifted,  much  as  a  white  man's 
boat  will  appear  when  the  stern  sets  low  in  the  water.  We  saw 
several  like  instances  on  Taunton  River  soon  after  inspecting  and 
tracing  the  one  above  mentioned.  An  Indian  canoe  hardly  could  be 


1J.  Brereton:   A  Brief e  Relation  of  the  Discoverie  by  Gosnold.     Bibliog- 
rapher, 1902,  p.  33.     Also  in  Old  South  Leaflets. 

2  See  Prof.  Greenwood's  letter  of  1730.    Amer.  Anthrop.,  1908,  p.  251. 

3  Fourth  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Amer.  Ethnol.  (1882-1883). 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  45 

made  to  look  like  that.  It  is  fairly  drawn  in  Bacon's  Narragansett 
Bay,  Miller's  Wampanoags  of  Rhode  Island,  and  Higginson's  Larger 
History  of  America ;  and  a  duplicate  of  a  copy  made  by  Mr.  Bacon  in 
1900  shows  the  other  characters  as  published ;  but  some  of  them  are 
gone  from  the  stone  and  all  the  others  have  been  damaged.  Only  the 
boat  remains  unhurt,  though  shallow.  Early  settlers  are  said  to  have 
been  acquainted  with  this  rock  when  it  was  in  the  field  above  the  low 
cliff  or  bank,  near  the  base  of  which  it  now  lies.  It  was  lost  sight  of 
about  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  but  afterward  found 
again,  having  most  likely  slipped  down  into  the  reach  of  the  tide. 
Prof.  Diman,  when  an  undergraduate,  is  said  to  have  mentioned  it  in 
the  "  Bristol  Phoenix  "  about  1846,  between  the  time  of  its  loss  and  its 
rediscovery.  Its  characters  have  a  more  alphabetic  look  than  those 
of  the  Dighton  rock  and  may  mean  either  something  or  nothing. 
It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  Indians  often  depict  objects  on  rocks 
in  idleness,  just  as  any  of  us  may  carve  a  bit  of  wood  or  scrawl 
careless  figures  and  characters  on  a  newspaper  margin.  Such  work  is 
sometimes  done  as  an  exhibition  of  skill  before  others ;  and  characters 
not  obviously  pictorial  may  be  conventionalized  outlines  or  random 
grooves  and  scratches,  not  necessarily  even  records  of  any  fact,  still 
less  symbolic.  Of  course  it  is  not  intended  to  deny  that  pictorial 
records,  such  as  the  "  winter  counts,"  have  been  maole  and  preserved 
by  Indians,  nor  that  symbolic  figures  are  used  in  the  ritual  of  their 
priests  ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  tendency  to  find  something 
esoteric  or  at  least  very  meaningful  in  every  chance  bit  of  native  rock- 
scratching  has  been  a  delusion  and  a  snare. 

The  proximity  of  the  boulder  to  Mount  Hope  seems  to  mark  this 
queer  relic  as  almost  certainly  Wampanoag  work ;  and  the  same  may 
be  said  with  less  confidence  of  a  chain  of  deeply  incised  recesses  and 
channels  in  the  landward  face  of  another  boulder  found  by  Mr. 
David  Hutcheson *  just  off  shore  at  high  tide  (bare  at  low  tide)  in  a 
small  cove  of  Portsmouth  Bay,  Aquidneck,  across  the  fields  from  the 
railway  station.  Several  other  inscriptions,  plainly  Indian  work,  are 
figured  at  the  end  of  the  Antiquitates  Americanse  as  formerly  existent 
at  this  point  and  at  Tiverton  on  the  other  side  of  the  strait  known  as 
Sakonnet  River.  They  seem  to  have  since  disappeared  and  call  for  no 
especial  description. 

No  doubt  the  Wampanoags,  Narragansets,  or  their  more  eastern 
neighbors  of  like  stock,  are  responsible  for  the  Dighton  Rock  cur- 


1  Charles  Rau's  monograph  on  cup  stones  illustrates  Algonquian  specimens 
of  similarly  connected  pattern,  the  nearest  being  at  Niantic  in  western  Con- 
necticut. 
4 


46  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

iosity-shop  of  figures,  not  necessarily  the  result  of  one  hand  or  one 
period,  but  these  are  now  fast  lapsing  into  invisibility.  There  is  some- 
thing trivial  and  childish  in  most  Indian  pictorial  work  and  this 
Taunton  River  contribution  seems  a  rather  aggravated  case.  It  could 
emanate  only  from  an  infantile  rudimentary  people.  To  charge  it 
or  anything  like  it  on  those  splendid  Icelanders  whose  saga-literature 
remains  a  wonder  of  the  world  seems  sufficiently  absurd. 

One  objection,  sometimes  urged  overhastily,  requires,  however, 
a  little  qualification.  It  has  been  said  that  no  rock  inscription  or 
pictograph  could  last  so  long  on  our  Atlantic  coast.  The  present 
rate  of  wearing  away  by  tide-water  would  ensure  obliteration  no 
doubt  in  much  less  than  the  nine  hundred  years  between  Thorfmn's 
time  and  our  own,  but  that  rate  depends  on  present  conditions,  which 
did  not  obtain  when  the  pictographs  were  out  of  reach  of  the  tide, 
as  they  must  have  been  at  first  and  long  afterward.  This,  of  course, 
does  not  establish  nine  hundred  years  of  life  for  them,  but  only 
that  nine  hundred  years  of  life  may  not  be  impossible.  In  1700, 
though  then  partly  tide-washed,  they  were  still  "  deeply  engraved  " 
according  to  Cotton  Mather.1 

On  Cape  Cod,  not  far  away,  some  forgotten  hearthstones  have  been 
dug  up  as  Norse  witnesses ;  likewise  a  copper  plate  averred  by  E.  N. 
Horsford 2  to  bear  "  the  legend  of  Kialarness."  They  have  been  almost 
restored  to  oblivion.  The  same  must  be  said  of  like  unconvincing 
evidences  occasionally  reported  from  various  points  around  that  bay. 

The  Charles  River  Valley  near  Boston  is  a  region  more  zealously 
championed ;  especially  in  the  Norumbega  pamphlets  of  E.  N. 
Horsford,3  whose  tablet  on  his  pretty  "  Tower  of  Norumbega  "  near 
Roberts  station  may  be  styled  a  new  birth  of  history  as  the  facts 
ought  to  have  been.  But  such  matters  can  hardly  be  settled  in 
that  way.  We  are  given  positively  the  dimensions  and  industries 
of  Wineland  as  a  nation,  the  name  and  site  of  its  capital  city,  the 
exact  part  taken  by  the  several  leading  explorers  and  founders, 
and  a  variety  of  miscellaneous  information,  eminently  desirable  if 
true,  and  at  all  events  entertaining.  In  tracing  the  sources  of  the 
various  items  it  is  regretted  that  this  learned  and  estimable  investi- 
gator was  not  more  thorough  in  securing  basic  knowledge  for  his 
conclusions. 


'Quoted  in  E.  M.  Bacon's  "Narragansett  Bay". 
2E.  N.  Horsford:  The  Landfall  of  Leif,  p.  31. 

3 The  Defences  of  Norumbega,  The  Landfall  of  Leif,  The  Discovery  of  the 
Ancient  City,  The  Problem  of  the  Northmen,  etc. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  47 

The  "  defences  of  Norumbega  'J1  about  the  base  of  this  "  tower  " 
resolve  themselves  into  a  few  roughly  aligned  rocks  and  a  lower 
dyke  of  rifle-pit  pattern  following  the  curve  of  the  hill,  wherein 
a  few  dozen  Indians  or  as  many  English  colonists  might  have  held  off 
an  enemy  behind  palisades.  That  they  could  have  anything  to  do 
with  the  "  city  "  and  "  quays  "  six  miles  below  them  is  by  no  means 
clear.  They  seem  a  curiously  futile  protection,  the  place  being  acces- 
sible on  so  many  other  sides.  Why  must  an  enemy  be  supposed  to 
follow  the  river?  And  why  should  the  little  fort  be  situated  so  far 
from  base  ? 

At  Watertown  (the  Norumbega  of  Horsford)  there  are  indeed  the 
disordered  stones  of  what  may  have  been  an  effective  rough  dam 
before  the  present  wooden  one  was  constructed.  The  shores  also 
exhibit  embankments  of  sand,  in  which  Horsford  thought  he  dis- 
cerned wharves,  quays,  and  divers  other  appurtenances  of  a  com- 
mercial waterside.  One  may  safely  say  that  they  are  man-made  and 
not  recent,  but  beyond  this  there  is  no  safe  road.  The  dam,  according 
to  the  investigator,  was  to  facilitate  the  floating  of  mausur  wood  for 
collection  and  export.  Searching  farther,  he  thought  he  found  like 
vestiges  in  the  Merrimack  and  other  rivers  of  eastern  Massachusetts  ; 
whence  he  inferred  a  thriving  industry  and  a  large  Norse  population, 
widely  spread.  It  cannot  be  pretended  that  he  has  adequately 
accounted  for  its  disappearance,  with  the  whole  inevitable  retinue  of 
domestic  animals.  This  and  like  facts  might  surely  have  been  given 
a  better  explanation,  easy  to  find;  for  the  Indians  themselves  were 
accustomed  to  dam  and  dyke  streams,  often  of  considerable  size,  as  a 
part  of  their  wier-construction,  which  was  an  important  matter  with 
them,  since  fisheries,  especially  in  spring,  were  their  most  reliable 
source  of  abundant  food  supply  along  the  Atlantic.  It  is  of  record  that 
the  Indians  taught  somewhat  of  that  art  to  the  early  Virginian 
colonists,  and  their  skill  and  industry  in  this  line  excited  surprise. 
The  few  surviving  Nanticoke  of  Delaware,  in  fact,  have  told  me  that 
an  old  dam  and  a  ruined  fish-trap  of  their  ancestors  yet  remain  visible 
on  -Indian  River,  and  I  have  been  shown  a  mound  (as  of  the  same 
origin)  which  would  compare  favorably  for  size  with  those  I  have 
inspected  in  Minnesota.  The  New  England  dams  discovered  by  Prof. 
Horsford  were  probably  also  Algonquian  and  for  fishing  purposes, 
with  no  implication  of  white  visitors  or  early  lumbering.  It  is  not 
very  remarkable  that  their  remains  should  be  found  above  Boston 
on  the  Charles  River  as  well  as  below  Lewes,  near  Rehoboth  Bay. 


1  Horsford:  The  Defences  of  Norumbega,  pp.  10,  31. 


48  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    5Q 

Other  structure-relics  of  the  Charles  River  neighborhood,  con- 
fidently identified  by  Horsford  as  marking  the  house-sites  of  Leif  and 
Thorfinn,  "  a  Norse  path,"  *  duly  photographed  and  published,  and 
some  stone  walls  and  foundations  credited  with  unfamiliar  character 
are  at  least  white  man's  work.  An  attempt  has  been  made  by  the  Hors- 
fords  and  some  of  their  adherents  to  fasten  these  works  on  Norse 
white  men,  through  a  series  of  excavations  on  abandoned  Icelandic 
homesites  made  by  a  Scandinavian  scholar  (which  are  in  themselves 
very  interesting) ,  but  nothing  has  been  established  in  that  way  affect- 
ing the  question.  Many  simple  homes  have  been  erected,  abandoned, 
and  forgotten  in  all  the  older  parts  of  our  country,  for  Anglo-Saxon 
America  is  no  longer  new;  and  such  remains  do  not  usually  differ 
decisively  among  related  peoples. 

The  very  land  where  this  is  written  (in  the  hill  country  above  the 
city  of  Washington)  bears  such  traces  of  the  past  in  different  places 
and  of  different  periods.  It  would  be  almost  as  easy  to  work  out  a 
more  southern  Leif  s-booth  and  Norumbega  above  the  Potomac  wild 
rice  and  amid  plentiful  wild  grape-vines,  in  accord  with  a  ''rune- 
stone  " 2  found  at  the  Great  Falls  ten  or  twelve  miles  up  stream,  if 
we  may  believe  a  sensational  announcement  in  a  newspaper  of  Wash- 
ington city  (1867).  It  was  no  doubt  a  wild  fiction,  but  honored  by 
a  serious  Danish  refutation  and  a  note  by  Dr.  De  Costa,  correcting 
some  errors  and  substituting  others. 

Finally,  the  Superintendent  of  the  U.  S.  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey 
writes  that  the  oldest  chart  of  Boston  Harbor  accessible  to  him, 
made  for  the  British  government  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  shows  in  the  channel  leading  to  the  Back  Bay  a  ruling  depth 
of  two  fathoms.  The  flats  of  that  bay  have  no  depth-figures,  but 
were  not  necessarily  quite  bare  at  low  tide,  for  those  of  Dorchester 
similarly  shown  have  a  four-foot  depth  marked  on  them.  He  infers 
that  there  could  have  been  only  a  "  few  feet  "of  depth  on  the  Back 
Bay  flats  except  when  the  tide  came  in.  By  "  few  "  we  must  under- 
stand no  doubt  something  like  the  four  feet  of  Dorchester  flats. 
It  would  have  required  a  light  draft  "  fleet  "  to  make  itself  comfort- 
able there  in  General  Washington's  time.  At  the  date  of  Champlain's 
voyage  (1660)  8  there  was  naturally  no  bay  worth  considering.  He 
explored  the  neighborhood  and  almost  certainly  anchored  in  Boston 

'Horsford:  The  Landfall  of  Leif  (frontispiece).    Also  Cornelia  Horsford  : 
Vinland  and  Its  Ruins.     (Appendix  by  Gudmundson  and  Erlendson.) 

2  F.  Boggild  :  Runic  Inscription  at  the  Great  Falls  of  the  Potomac.    Historical 
Magazine,  March  1869. 

3  Voyages  of  Champlain.    Original  Narratives  of  Early  American  History, 
p.  67. 


NO.    19  NORSE   VISITS   TO    NORTH    AMERICA — BABCOCK  49 

Harbor  before  passing  on  to  Plymouth.  Charles  River  impressed 
him.  for  he  called  it  "  very  broad,"  named  it  ineffectually  the  River 
du  Guast  and  speculated  as  to  whether  it  rose  toward  the  "  Iroquois," 
but  with  all  his  eagerness  as  an  observer  and  pains  as  a  recorder  he 
has  left  us  no  sort  of  indication  of  the  existence  of  any  Back  Bay. 
What  then  could  there  have  been  for  Verrazano  in  1523,  much  less  for 
Thorfinn  five  hundred  years  earlier,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  this  part 
of  the  coast  has  been  sinking  for  many  centuries  ? 

The  unknown  graves  of  Thorbrand  and  Thorvald,  abandoned  in 
a  wild  land,  must  always  be  themes  of  poetic  interest — "  the  graves 
that  the  thicket  covers,  the  graves  that  the  rain  bedews."  Miss 
Horsford  *  hoped  she  had  found  the  former,  and  if  this  indeed  were 
only  so! 

A  seaboard  point  near  Ipswich  has  some  stonework  locally  at- 
tributed to  Norseman  as  Dr.  Fewkes  informs  me. 

A  more  positive  claim  has  been  put  forward  by  a  New  Hampshire 
judge  in  the  latter  case,  in  the  Boston  Journal,  quoted  by  the  Phila- 
delphia Times  of  July  27,  1902,  as  follows : 

A  certain  field  on  the  narrow  marsh  and  beach  on  the  main  road  up  town 
[Hampton]  contains  the  rock  on  which  are  cut  the  three  crosses  designating 
the  grave  where  was  buried  Thorvald  Ericsson  1004.  The  rock  is  a  large 
granite  stone  lying  in  the  earth,  its  face  near  the  top  of  the  ground  with  the 
crosses  cut  thereon  and  other  marks  cut  by  the  hand  of  man  with  a  stone 
chisel  and  not  by  any  owner.  That  field  came  into  possession  of  the  author's 
ancestors  250  years  ago. 

Even  so,  there  are  650  earlier  years  to  be  accounted  for,  years  of 
absolute  Indian  dominance ;  and  who  so  likely  as  an  Indian  to  use  a 
stone  tool  in  such  graving  ?  The  cross,  too,  has  been  a  favorite  symbol 
of  all  primitive  religions  from  time  immemorial.  But,  if  we  must  give 
it  a  Christian  significance,  how  many  different  kinds  of  Latin  Cath- 
olics ranged  this  shore  before  and  after  the  very  numerous  early  six- 
teenth century  Basque,  and  Breton  fishermen !  There  were  the  expe- 
ditions of  Gomez,  Fagundes,  and  Verrazano,  the  Spanish  searchers 
after  the  lost  De  Soto,  the  colonizing  De  Monts  and  Champlain, 
Jesuit  priests  with  their  dusky  flocks  raiding  or  exploring,  adventur- 
ous noblemen  lapsing  out  of  French  civilization  after  the  fashion  of 
the  Baron  of  Castine !  The  list  might  be  increased  and  the  marking 
of  a  cross  would  be  almost  automatic  on  the  part  of  any  of  these 
gentry.  So  the  judge's  assurance,  giving  it  full  face  value,  does  not 
seem  to  take  us  very  far  toward  certainty  about  the  interment  of 
Thorvald  son  of  Eric  so  manv  centuries  before. 


1  Cornelia  Horsford:  The  Graves  of  the  Norsemen,  pp.  20,  40.     (Bound  with 
Leif's  House  in  Vinland.) 


50  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

On  the  Maine  sea-coast  even  the  kitchen-midden-like  oyster-shell- 
heaps  are  turned  to  account  as  Norse  vestiges.  "  There  are  three 
distinct  strata,"  the  lowest  representing  cannibalistic  savagery,  the 
second,  ordinary  Indian  occupancy.  A  railway  folder  says  of  the 
highest :  "  Prof.  Putnam  claims  this  to  be  of  Norse  origin  " ;  but 
it  also  says  that  the  Norse  colonies  in  Greenland  "  about  the  8th 
century  supported  20  bishops  "  and  that  "  the  Phenicians  are  the 
legendary  ancestors  of  these  Irish  Druids."  Rock  inscriptions  on 
Monhegan  Island  and  elsewhere  are  attributed  to  Phenicians  or 
Norsemen,  according  to  taste  and  individual  sense  of  probability. 
The  Monhegan  inscription,1  discovered  in  the  fifties  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  has  been  "  interpreted "  as  giving  the  age  of  a  certain 
chieftain,  and  one  Canadian  theorist  even  identified  it  as  the  work  of 
Turanians  not  long  over  from  Japan,  who  left  similar  messages 
in  Michigan  on  the  way.  A  "  rune-stone  "  has  also  been  found  at 
Ellsworth  and  a  double-edged  dagger,  "  the  exact  likeness  of  one  in 
Du  Chaillu's  Viking  Age,"  in  a  cellar  near  Castine.  Pemaquid ' 
discloses  pavements  and  house  foundations,  and  similar  vestiges 
as  well  as  Algonquian  inscriptions  are  scattered  up  and  down  the 
coast  and  along  the  rivers.  They  may  be  mysterious  enough  to  be 
Icelandic,  but  no  positive  proof  takes  any  of  these  relics  back  of  the 
early  Breton  visitors  or  the  first  French  and  English  attempts  at  col- 
onization. 

In  the  Algonquian  myths  of  Maine  and  the  British  provinces, 
Leland  3  believes  that  he  distinguishes  echoes  of  the  Eddas,  proving 
Norse  intercourse,  but  these  do  not  impress  every  ear.  Moreover 
Leif  came  as  a  missionary  royally  commissioned  to  spread  the 
Christian  faith ;  and  Thorfinn  and  Gudrid,  with  most  of  their  fol- 
lowers, were  in  the  first  flush  of  conversion.  After  her  return  to 
Iceland  Gudrid  was  considered  nearly  as  a  saint.  Besides,  these  stories 
have  a  distinctly  aboriginal  air.  One  really  cannot  discern  the 
contrast  which  Leland  insists  on  between  their  quality  and  construc- 
tion and  those  of  the  Iroquois  and  Ojibway  wonder  tales.  Of  course 
there  are  some  plots  and  mythical  explanations  which  grow  the  world 
over  out  of  certain  human  complications  or  insistent  natural 
phenomena.  It  is  not  surprising  tkat  a  Passamaquoddy  Indian  and 
an  early  Norseman  should  hit  on  similar  impersonations  of  cold  and 

1  Said  to  be  copied  in  Memoires  de  la  Societe  Royale  des  Antiquaires  du  Nord, 
May  14  1859. 

2J.  H.  Cartland :  Ten  Years  at  Pemaquid,  pp.  94-103. 

3  C.  G.  Leland  :  The  Algonquin  Legends  of  New  England  ;  also  his  The  Edda 
Among  the  Algonquin  Indians.  Atlan  tonthly,  Aug.  1889,  p.  223. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  51 

hunger,  of  storm  and  electrical  discharges,  or  weave  simple  dramas 
of  war  and  home  life  in  more  or  less  likeness  to  each  other.  The 
chain  of  such  evidence  is  not  strong  enough  to  hold. 

Lacrosse,  the  national  game  of  Canada,  has  also  been  claimed  by 
Hertzberg  and  Nansen  a  as  a  Scandinavian  contribution,  but  Mooney, 
who  is  better  authority  as  to  aboriginal  idiosyncracies  and  probabil- 
ities, tells  me  that  it  is  distinctively  Indian.  Nor  can  one  easily  believe 
in  such  an  acquisition  reaching  the  southern  tribes  so  quickly  in  the 
conditions  then  probably  prevailing.  The  Eskimo  game  reported  by 
Egede  seems  a  strained  parallel  and  a  poor  partial  coincidence. 
Giving  the  Norwegian  game  the  benefit  of  all  doubt  as  to  substantial 
identity  with  lacrosse,  we  must  not  forget  how  cat's-cradle,  that  very 
artificial  sport  of  ingenuity,  occurs  from  of  old  in  Britain  and 
Polynesia  (see  Porter's  Journal)  and  how  even  the  most  surprising 
expedients  and  preposterous  customs  have  apparently  been  rein- 
vented repeatedly  in  remote  parts  of  the  world. 

One  would  be  inclined  to  consider  more  seriously  the  double- 
headed  axe  and  the  gouge,  both  peculiar  to  Scandinavia  and  north- 
eastern America,  which  were  exhibited  by  Holmes,  December  27, 
1911,  before  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science,  but  it  may  be  best  to  imitate  his  caution  in  drawing  no 
inferences.  Such  topics  tempt  the  fancy  and  their  accumulation  can- 
not quite  fail  to  leave  some  impress.  But  they  prove  nothing. 

Next  beyond  the  State  of  Maine,  and  at  the  entrance  to  the  broad- 
spread,  lovely  Passamaquoddy  or  St.  Croix  Bay,  lies  Grand  Manan, 
theoretically  one  of  the  most  hopeful,  or  least  hopeless,  fields  for 
research,  spreading  obliquely  north-northeast  and  south-southwest  in 
the  mouth  of  the  great  Bay  of  Fundy.  Thus  far,  no  trace  of  anything 
earlier  than  the  American  Revolution  (and  not  unmistakably  Indian) 
seems  to  have  been  found  on  that  island,  unless  it  be  an  anchor 
greatly  reduced  by  long  rust  and  ocean  wear,  and  attributed  by 
some  to  Champlain,  though  without  any  obvious  reason.  Doubtless 
many  other  Frenchmen  anchored  there  in  olden  times,  and  Mr. 
Mclntosh  of  the  Natural  History  Museum  at  St.  John,  New  Bruns- 
wick, assures  me  that  French  anchors  are  often  found  in  various 
parts  of  the  province.  Since  nothing  that  can  be  identified  remains 
of  Champlain  on  or  near  Grand  Manan,  it  is  the  less  remarkable  that 
we  should  find  no  trace  of  Thorfinn's  party,  who  landed,  if  at  all, 
600  years  earlier.  Such  traces  may,  however,  be  hidden  there,  for 
the  northwestern  side  of  the  island  presents  at  least  20  miles  of  wilder- 

1The  Norsemen  in  America.  Geogr.  Journ.,  vol.  38,  p.  574;  also  In  Northern 
Mists,  vol.  2,  pp.  38-41. 


52  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

ness,  behind  precipices,  towering  several  hundred  feet  above  the  sea, 
and  its  thorough  archeological  exploration  is  an  affair  of  the  future. 

On  the  mainland  of  New  Brunswick  a  curious  medallion-like  stone 
has  been  found  near  the  road  between  St.  Andrews  and  St.  John, 
below  a  cliff  of  similar  material  and  beside  Lake  Utopia,  a  near 
neighbor  of  the  Passamaquoddy  region.  Its  dimensions  are  con- 
siderable, nearly  two  feet  by  more  than  a  foot  and  a  half,  and  it 
bears  a  profile  face,  head,  and  neck  in  outline,  shown  in  a  drawing 
accompanying  a  paper  by  J.  Allen  Jack.1  He  believed  it  to  be  Indian  ; 
but  Mr.  Mclntosh  thinks  not.  It  seems  to  be  something  of  a  mystery, 
although  no  one  has  ascribed  it  to  the  Norsemen. 

Over  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  at  Yarmouth,  Nova  Scotia,  are  two  rocks 
with  strange  markings ;  one  of  these  "  inscriptions  "  being  sometimes 
translated  "  Harko's  son  addressed  the  men,"  though  this  is  also  cred- 
ited to  Nature's  handiwork.  I  must  agree  with  the  Harko  party  to 
the  extent  of  counter-scepticism  concerning  the  probability  of  long 
mistaking  rock-veins  and  the  like  for  human  letters.  In  that  region 
they  do  sometimes  simulate  character  outlines  and  graven  symbols 
in  a  curious  way,  nevertheless  almost  anyone  would  distinguish 
the  truth  at  a  second  glance,  if  not  straining  for  an  argument.  But 
why  should  sensible  Norsemen  take  so  much  pains  to  record  such  a 
trivial  incident?  More  likely  it  is  the  work  of  Micmac  Indians, 
or  someone  else  equally  removed  from  the  Icelanders.  Certainly  it 
has  not  been  accepted  by  most  investigators.  There  are  Micmac  rock- 
pictures  not  far  away  at  Fairy  Lake.  Also  there  are  living  Micmac 
above  Digby,  nearer  still. 

Rumors  of  the  Norsemen  linger  about  the  Nova  Scotia  seaboard. 
Of  one  isle  we  are  quaintly  told  by  a  guide-book  that  Red  Eric  loved 
to  make  it  his  special  haunt — notwithstanding  the  plain  testimony  of 
the  saga  that  he  was  crippled  by  an  accident  in  attempting  to  embark 
with  Thorstein,  and  took  this  for  a  warning  to  explore  no  farther, 
so  remained  quietly  in  Greenland  during  the  Wineland  voyages. 
There  seems  to  be  nothing  tangible  connecting  any  Norsemen  with 
the  spot,  which  may  not  have  been  above  water  in  their  time. 

Newfoundland  and  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  coast,  though  really 
promising  on  general  principles,  have  yielded,  I  believe,  only  some 
early  Basque  and  English  foundations  and  relics,  no  longer  claimed  as 
Norse  by  anyone.  Just  below,  sonthwestward  at  Miramichi  on  the 


1  J.  Allen  Jack :   A  Sculptured  Stone  Found  in  St.  George,  New  Brunswick. 
Smithsonian  Rep.,  1881,  p.  665. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  53 

shore  of  the  mild  Acadian  Bay,  a  few  slippery  coincidences  in  names, 
customs,  etc.,  evidence  to  which  ethnologists  now  attach  little  value, 
have  been  gathered  by  Bishop  Howley  *  and  put  forward  with  a 
certain  confidence  in  his  Vinland  Vindicated. 

Labrador  needs  thorough  searching.  So  far,  it  offers  only  certain 
small  stone  structures,2  perhaps  of  native  origin,  and  an  Eskimo 
legend,  quoted  by  Packard3  from  an  earlier  writer,  concerning  a 
race  of  invulnerable  giants,  roundly  identified  with  mail-clad  Norse- 
man by  these  white  recorders.  But  Chambers,  finding  the  same  myth 
among  the  Iroquois,  fastens  it  in  The  Maid  at  Arms  on  wandering 
Spaniards  of  De  Soto's  time.  Yet  further,  we  learn  that  other  tribes 
know  these  tall,  hard-shelled  warriors  in  quarters  beyond  the  reach  of 
mailed  Europeans.  Perhaps  the  Norse  Giants  should  be  set  aside  for 
the  present  as  fancy-figures  ;  it  is  so  natural  for  primitive  ill-defended 
people  to  thrill  over  such  nightmares,  which  may  issue  out  of  the 
dark  at  any  moment  and  do  what  they  will  with  you,  themselves 
unharmed.  Something  of  it,  indeed,  is  in  or  behind  every  well 
created  ghost-story. 

The  deep  indentation  of  Hudson  Bay  offers  perhaps  the  only 
remaining  field — hardly  a  hopeful  one.  The  Kensington  rune  stone  * 
fills  it,  having  a  legend  all  its  own,  and  is  now  urged  with  determina- 
tion by  certain  Minnesota  advocates,  geographical  and  linguistic, 
who  certainly  claim  consideration.  This  relic  was  found  in  the 
interior  of  Minnesota  by  a  Swedish  farmer  in  a  Swedish  settlement, 
and  it  seems  to  be  admitted  that  the  inscription  itself  has  a  Swedish 
cast.  These  facts,  added  to  the  remoteness  of  the  location  and 
the  obstacles  in  the  way,  surely  raise  a  presumption  against  it. 
There  is  an  attempt  to  overcome  this  objection  by  the  statement  that 
the  stone  was  under  and  among  the  roots  of  a  tree,  estimated  by 
observers  to  be  forty  years  old,  which  would  carry  it  well  beyond 
the  period  of  the  modern  Swedes  in  that  locality.  But  any  rapidly- 
growing  tree,  such  as  our  tulip  tree,  or  most  other  indigenous 
"  poplars,"  will  make  a  greater  growth  than  Mr.  Holand's  several 
statements  call  for  in  much  less  time  than  that.  A  tulip  tree  near  my 
home  which  had  not  yet  sprung  up  from  the  seed,  in  August,  1897, 
showed  in  September,  1910,  thirty-eight  inches  of  measured  circum- 


1M.  F.  Howley:  Vinland  Vindicated.  Trans.  Roj'al  Soc.  Can.,  1898;  see 
also  E.  Beauvois :  Les  Dernieres  Vestiges  du  Christianisme. 

2W.  G.  Gosling:  Labrador,  chap,  i,  1910. 

3Alpheus  S.  Packard:  The  Labrador  Coast,  p.  220. 

4H.  R.  Holand:  The  Kensington  Rune  Stone.  Records  of  the  Past,  Jan.- 
Feb.  1910. 


54  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

ference  three  feet  above  the  ground.  The  story  told  by  the  inscrip- 
tion is  improbable  nearly  to  the  point  of  impossibility.  The  runes 
are  discredited  by  the  verdicts  of  Messrs  Dieserud  and  Flom  and 
other  competent  philologists.  The  well-known  but  quite  unauthentic 
map  of  J.  Toulmin  Smith,  which  took  Thorfinn  by  sheer  guesswork 
to  Baffin  Land  before  his  departure  southward,  is  offered  us  again  as 
a  background  for  the  later  travels  of  the  alleged  Minnesota  explorers 
by  the  Hudson  Bay  route.  Biornsland  parades  there  below  Hvitra- 
mannaland,  Gudleif's  course  to  and  from  it  being  traced  as  conscien- 
tiously as  though  something  could  be  known,  or  reasonably  conjec- 
tured, about  it  or  him.  And  little  but  darkening  of  counsel  can  come 
from  such  a  suggestion  as  that  the  forestland  may  be  northward  of 
the  region  of  stony  desolation.  We  find  no  sound  reason  for  suppos- 
ing that  any  Norsemen  ever  were  in  the  neighborhood  where  the 
stone  was  found  before  the  nineteenth  century. 

It  seems,  then,  that  so  far  as  investigation  has  gtone,  there  is  not  a 
single  known  record  or  relic  of  Wineland,  Markland,  Helluland,  or 
any  Norse  or  Icelandic  voyage  of  discovery,  extant  at  this  time  on 
American  soil,  which  may  be  relied  on  with  any  confidence.  There 
are  inscriptions,  but  apparently  Indians  made  them  all  except  the 
freakish  work  of  white  men  in  our  own  time ;  there  are  games, 
traditional  stories,  musical  compositions,  weapons,  utensils,  remnants 
of  rude  architecture,  and  residua  of  past  engineering  work,  but  no 
link  necessarily  connects  them  with  the  period  of  Icelandic  explora- 
tion or  with  the  Norse  race.  One  and  all  they  may  perfectly  well  be 
of  some  other  origin — Indian,  Basque,,  Breton,  Norman,  Dutch, 
Portuguese,  French,  Spanish,  or  English.  Too  many  natives  were 
on  the  ground,  and  too  many  different  European  peoples,  who  were 
not  Scandinavians,  came  here  between  1497  an<^  1620  for  us  to  accept 
anything  as  belonging  to  or  left  by  a  Norse  Wineland,  without  unim- 
peachable proof. 

8._ CERTAIN  COLLATERAL  ITEMS  OF  EVIDENCE 

Greenland  and  Wineland  were  coupled  together  from  the  begin- 
ning in  popular  mention.  Thus  we  have  seen  Ari  the  Wise,  between 
the  years  1 100  and  1 1 14,  referring  to  the  hypothetical  natives  of  the 
former  and  the  well  known  natives  of  the  latter  in  one  sentence. 
About  1400  Ordericus  Vitalis  referred  to  "  Finland  "  with  Greenland, 
apparently  meaning  Vinland  or  Wineland,  since  he  does  not  seem  to 
have  had  the  Baltic  Finnland  in  mind.  Between  these,  in  1121, 
according  to  Icelandic  annals,  Eric  Gnupson,  then  Bishop  of  Green- 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  55 

land,  sailed  from  that  country  to  seek  Wineland,  and  vanished  utterly. 
At  least  there  is  no  later  mention  of  him,  and  two  years  afterward  his 
flock,  who  should  know  best,  are  found  demanding  a  new  shepherd. 
The  latter  was  accordingly  consecrated  (in  1124)  in  the  person  of 
Bishop  Arnold.  Bishop  Eric  remains  a  lost  heroic  figure  of  history. 
It  is  true  that  the  Danish  poet  Lyschander  of  1608,  and  Professor 
Horsford  in  1889,  agree  concerning  his  later  prosperity  in  the  isolated 
Wineland  diocese ;  but  we  do  not  know  of  anything  behind  their 
assertions  more  substantial  than  a  cheery  hopefulness.  Most  writers 
have  supposed  with  Dr.  Storm  that  he  was  on  a  missionary  errand 
(though  Dr.  Nansen  doubts  this  also),  and  that  he  died  in  trying  to 
make  the  latter  part  of  his  title  represent  something  real.  However, 
nothing  is  positively  known,  except  his  passage  from  Iceland  to 
Greenland  in  1112,  followed  by  his  attempt,  nine  years  later,  to  reach 
Wineland  also. 

Whosoever  will  is  of  course  at  liberty  to  believe  that  "  Eric  Gnup- 
son  "  was  really  the  "  first  bishop  "  of  Wineland,  or  with  the  poet  that : 

Eric  of  Greenland  did  the  deed ; 

He  carried  to  Wineland  both  folk  and  creed; 

Which  are  there  e'en  now  surviving. 

We  see,  full  fledged,  in  these  verses  of  the  early  seventeenth 
century  the  conception  of  a  settled,  organized,  self-supporting  Wine- 
land,  a  thriving  offshoot,  which  was  to  Greenland  what  we  know 
Greenland  to  have  been  to  Iceland  or  Iceland  to  Norway.  The 
picture  has  its  fascinations  and  seems  to  dominate  many  minds  even 
yet.  Nothing  but  proof  is  lacking,  or  at  least  some  little  glimmer  of 
evidence  in  its  favor.  The  real  Wineland  was  a  wild  land,  visited 
once  by  accident  for  a  few  weeks  only;  and  once  more  intentionally, 
not  long  afterward,  with  three  years'  exploration  and  temporary 
abode  at  two  points,  by  a  party  of  colonists  who  abandoned  the 
attempt  and  returned  to  Greenland  and  Iceland.  That  is  all  that  we 
find  positively  recorded  until  1347.  This  distinction,  if  clearly 
grasped,  would  have  saved  some  misunderstanding  and  wasted  work. 

We  have  shown  already  that  circumstances  about  the  year  1000 
favored  and  almost  ensured  the  discovery  of  America  from  Green- 
land ;  also  that  the  house  of  Eric  Raudi  would  naturally  take  a  leading 
part  in  the  work.  There  is  evidence  that  this  happened ;  but  as  in 
most  matters  of  remote  history,  the  evidence  is  not  absolutely  first- 
hand. We  must  be  content  with  copies  of  copies.  The  world,  with 
due  caution  and  corrections,  rightly  accepts  and  believes  many  things 


56  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

without  that  special  kind  of  proof  required  by  the  technical  restric- 
tions and  arbitrary  rules  of  convenience  of  English-speaking  courts. 

Apart  from  the  chief  narratives — the  Hauksbook  Saga  of  Thorfinn 
Karlsefni,  the  closely  parallel  Saga  of  Eric  the  Red,  and  the  two 
chapters  relating  to  Greenland  and  Wineland  in  the  Flateybook 
Saga  of  Olaf  Tryggvason — there  are  divers  brief  statements  of 
very  old  writers,  which  corroborate  and  check  them. 

Our  first  witness  is  the  prebendary,  Adam  of  Bremen,  not  a 
Scandinavian  but  a  well  known  German  geographical  author  and 
official  clergyman,  who  visited  the  court  of  Denmark  about  1069, 
when  he  might  still  converse  there  with  men  who  had  met  Leif  or 
Thorfinn  or  some  of  their  following  and  heard  the  story  from  their 
own  lips.  His  "  Description  of  the  Northern  Islands  "  was  probably 
completed  in  Latin  in  1076,  undoubtedly  not  much  later.  In  the 
sixteenth  century  there  were  at  least  six  manuscript  copies  extant,1 
one  or  more  being  probably  in  southern  Germany.  Two  such  copies, 
written  out  in  the  thirteenth  century,  are  now  in  Copenhagen  and 
Vienna.  The  book  was  first  published  in  print  in  1585.  Its 
authenticity  is  undoubted. 

Reporting  a  conversation  with  the  Danish  King,  it  says: 

Moreover  he  spoke  of  an  island  in  that  ocean,  which  is  called  Wineland,  for 
the  reason  that  vines  grow  wild  there,  which  yield  the  best  of  wine.  More- 
over, that  grain  unsown  grows  there  abundantly  is  not  a  fabulous  fancy,  but 
from  the  accounts  of  the  Danes  we  know  it  to  be  a  fact.2 

Then  he  proceeds  to  tell  of  the  "'  insupportable  ice,"  and  gloom  of 
uninhabitable  regions  beyond,  ending  the  passage  with  a  moving 
discourse  on  the  perils  of  the  northern  seas.  Here  we  seem  to  have 
some  tradition  of  Helluland  with  its  savage  surroundings. 

The  name  Wineland  is  superfluous  to  identify  the  more  southern 
and  more  favored  region,  in  view  of  the  wild  grain  which  is  men- 
tioned, and  the  wild  grapes  capable  of  making  good  wine.  The 
valuable  monograph  of  Dr.  Jenks 8  on  The  Wild  Rice  Gatherers  of 
the  Northwest  plainly  discloses  what  a  staff  of  life  the  Zizania  still 
is  to  thousands  of  Indians.  Many  of  the  slow  rivers  of  our  Atlantic 
slope  abound  in  it  no  less  than  the  smaller  glacial  lakes.  As  to  the 
wild  vintage  grapes,  Lescarbot4  who  was  of  those  next  making  their 
acquaintance  along  this  shore,  vaunts  wine  as  God's  best  gift  to  men, 

1  G.  Storm  :  Studies  on  the  Vineland  Voyages.    Memoires  Societe  Royale  des 
Antiquaires  du  Nord,  1888;  also  separate   1889. 

2  Translation  in  Reeves's  "The  Finding  of  Wineland  the  Good,"  chap.  6,  p.  92. 

3  Ninth  Ann.  Rep.  Bureau  Amer.  Ethnol.,  p.  1018. 

4  Nova  Francia.    Erondelle's  transl.,  p.  97. 


NO.    Ip  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  57 

excepting  only  bread.  Those  large  grapes  are  here  yet  and  still 
wild,  ranging  above  the  middle  of  New  England  along  the  coast ; 
their  abundance  then  is  plentifully  attested  and  beyond  all  doubting. 

Quite  recently  we  have  been  invited  to  find  a  sufficient  explanation 
of  Adam's  words  in  his  credulity  which  resembled  that  of  many  other 
old  writers,  in  the  possibility  that  he  might  have  read  or  heard  of  a 
statement  by  Isidore1  of  Seville  attributing  wild  grapes,  messis 
(perhaps  grain)  and  vegetables  to  the  ridges  of  the  Canaries;  in  the 
fact  that  some  ancient  Irish  sea-stories  mention  grape  islands — 
as  well  as  apple  islands  and  other  delectable  places — and  that  he 
might  have  heard  of  them;  and  in  the  etymological,  mythical,  and 
every  way  mysterious  relation  of  the  unusual  verbal  form  which 
we  translate  Wineland  the  Good  (perhaps  more  adequately  the 
Blessed)  to  the  Isles  of  the  Blest,  the  Fortunate  Isles,  the  Irish  Isles 
of  the  Undying  and  the  fairy  isles  and  hills  of  Scandinavia.  But 
as  Adam  of  Bremen  adds  no  word,  magical  or  otherwise,  to  plain 
Wineland — nor,  for  that  matter,  is  any  word  added  by  the  saga — we 
need  not  linger  over  the  final  point. 

But  is  it  not  curious  that  Adam  himself  gives  us  no  hint  of  these 
classical,  Irish,  and  north  European  sources ;  that  the  next  European 
visitors,  Verrazano  and  Cartier,  Strachey  and  Brereton,  Champlain 
and  Lescarbot,  are  equally  reticent  in  this  regard,  and  equally  positive 
about  the  grapes;  that  the  European  writers  who  followed  Adam 
of  Bremen  used  his  material  freely  but  abstained  from  this  particular 
statement  as  though  to  save  their  credit.  Fearing  this,  he  had  taken 
pains  to  protest  in  advance  that  it  was  "  not  a  fabulous  fancy  " ;  but 
the  asseveration  evidently  was  distrusted. 

It  may  be  objected  that  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  century 
Europeans  had  nothing  to  say  about  the  wild  grain,  but  Carrier's  2 
"  wild  grain  like  rye  "  on  the  southern  shore  of  the  Gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence  can  be  nothing  but  wild  rice  plainly  distinguished  as  it  is 
by  him  from  the  cultivated  maize  which  he  met  soon  afterward  as 
an  article  of  diet  and  called  "  millet  as  large  as  peas,"  even  after 
he  had  seen  it  growing  at  Hochelaga.  Neither  he  nor  any  other 
European  would  consider  the  wild  rice  after  making  the  acquaintance 
of  this  greater  cultivated  Indian  corn,  which  had  nearly  eclipsed  its 
rival  even  among  the  natives.  But  in  its  absence  the  former  was 
highly  important  to  all.  In  our  present  corn  belt,  even  wheat  holds 
its  ground  beside  maize  almost  wholly  by  alternation;  but  there 


'Nansen:  In  Northern  Mists,  vol.  i,  p.  345,  and  other  passages. 
2 The  Voyages  of  Cartier.    Orig.  Narr.  Early  Amer.  Hist. 


58  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

could  be  no  alternation  between  maize  and  wild  rice,  for  they  require 
different  conditions  of  moisture.  So  the  latter  had  become  only  an 
occasional  variation  of  diet  in  Virginia,  as  Strachey  seems  to  say, 
perhaps  not  being  used  at  all  farther  northward ;  and  the  maize  fields 
flourished.  The  French  and  English  explorers  gave  prompt  heed  to 
them,  and  the  first  settlers  who  followed  were  kept  alive  by  their 
yield.  At  an  earlier  time,  the  wild  rice-patches  would  have  been  their 
only  reliance — an  effectual  one  if  the  crop  were  rightly  watched  and 
harvested. 

But  this  would  be  a  more  impressive  gift  of  nature  to  Icelanders ; 
who  brought  no  grain  with  them,  raised  none  at  home,  and  rarely 
before  had  enjoyed  the  prospect  of  bread  for  their  tables ;  yet  who 
knew  both  wheat  and  grapes  well  enough  from  their  trading  voyages 
to  Ireland,  England,  and  France,  and  from  other  experiences  abroad. 
It  is  incredible  that  Leif  or  Thorfinn  should  need  any  explanation  of 
the  ordinary  kinds  of  grain  or  of  wine. 

Adam  names  no  Wineland  explorers ;  perhaps  he  did  not  hear  of 
them  nor  care  for  them.  To  him  they  would  be  only  obscure  citizens 
of  a  rude  northern  republic;  and  his  chief  informant,  King  Sweyn, 
may  not  have  felt  any  greater  concern  in  the  matter,  though  it 
would  appear  that  some  of  his  own  subjects  were  thought  to  have 
visited  the  new  region. 

With  Ari  Frode  (the  Wise),  next  in  order,  the  case  was  radically 
different.  Names  and  historic  items,  exactly  given,  were  of  prime 
importance  to  this  every  way  remarkable  man.  He  had  set  himself 
to  tell  in  detail  the  story  of  the  beginnings  of  Iceland,  omitting 
nothing  important  which  concerned  any  notable  family  of  any 
neighborhood;  a  great  national  service  never  before  undertaken 
anywhere;  and  he  carried  it  through  admirably.  It  is  hardly 
exaggeration  to  call  him  the  father  of  conscientious  modern  history. 
At  least  he  began  about  noo  the  glorious  prose  literature  of  Iceland 
by  a  succession  of  investigations  and  records  which  the  world  has 
found  invaluable.  Born  in  1067  and  dying  in  1148,  he  filled  a  long 
life  with  this  excellent  work. 

It  was  his  habit  to  learn,  when  he  could,  from  the  very  men  who 
had  taken  part  in  the  events  related,  or,  this  being  impossible,  from 
those  who  had  heard  the  story  in  that  way,  or  to  use  the  next  best 
authority  that  was  attainable.  Thorkel  Gellisson,  his  uncle,  is  thus 
quoted  by  him  as  having  contributed  certain  Greenland  items, 
derived  at  first  hand  from  one  of  the  companions  of  Eric  the  Red. 
Other  informants  were  the  foster  son  of  Hall  of  the  Side  *  and  the 


G.  Vigfusson  :  Prolegomena  of^Sturlunga  Saga,  p.  28. 


NO.    Ip  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  59 

daughter  of  Snorri  the  Priest,  two  leading  early  Icelandic  chieftains. 
Vigfusson  mentions  six  others  in  his  masterly  preface  to  the  Stur- 
lunga  Saga.  With  this  tendency  and  his  opportunities  it  is  nearly 
certain  that  Ari  the  Wise  often  heard  the  Wineland  narrative  in  all 
its  forms  from  the  descendants  of  Gudrid,  for  example  Bishop  Thor- 
lac  Runolfsson,  whom  he  undoubtedly  knew. 

There  is  no  question  that  Ari  wrote  the  Islendingabok,  which  sur- 
vives in  a  later  abridged  version  or  Libellus  also  by  his  hand.  The 
Landnamabok  is  probably  in  great  part  his  too,  excepting  the  entries 
of  the  eastern  settlements  and  certain  later  additions,  carrying  the 
story  down  beyond  his  time,  though  his  share  in  it  has  been  double. 
He  perhaps  also  began  the  long  series  of  historic  sagas  1  as  one  of  the 
authors  of  the  Kristni-Saga  and  the  Konungabok,  narrating  respec- 
tively the  conversion  of  the  island  and  the  deeds  of  Norwegian  kings. 

In  each  of  these  four  books  Wineland  is  mentioned;  always  as 
though  readers  would  naturally  be  familiar  with  this  item  of  history 
and  geography.  Once,  being  better  known,  it  defines  the  supposed 
location  of  Great  Ireland ;  and  again,  by  a  rather  loose  analogy,  con- 
tributes its  Skraelings  to  identify  the  as  yet  unseen  inhabitants  of 
Greenland,  who  had  left  some  savage  debris  behind  them — broken 
boats,  discarded  tools,  and  empty  hovels.  The  Landnamabok  has 
also  a  brief  reference  to  "  Karlsefni  who  found  Wineland  the  Good, 
Snorri's  father  " — every  one  plainly  being  supposed  to  know  all 
about  these  personages. 

The  Kristni-Saga  says  of  King  Olaf  Tryggvason : 

He  sent  Leif  to  Greenland  to  proclaim  the  faith  there.  On  his  voyage  Leif 
found  Wineland  the  Good ;  he  also  found  men  on  a  wreck  at  sea,  therefore  he 
was  called  Leif  the  Lucky. 

The  Konungabok  passage  is  similar : 

Leif,  a  son  of  Eric  the  Red,  passed  the  same  winter  in  good  repute  with  King 
Olaf  and  accepted  Christianity.  And  that  summer,  when  Gizur  went  to  Iceland, 
King  Olaf  sent  Leif  to  Greenland,  to  proclaim  Christianity  there.  He  sailed 
that  summer  to  Greenland.  He  found  men  on  a  wreck  at  sea  and  succoured 
them.  Then  also  he  found  Wineland  the  Good  and  arrived  at  Greenland  in  the 
autumn.  He  took  with  him  thither  a  priest  and  other  spiritual  teachers  and 
went  to  Brattahlid  to  make  his  home  with  his  father  Eric.  People  afterward 
called  him  Leif  the  Lucky.  But  his  father  Eric  said  that  one  account  should 
balance  the  other,  that  Leif  had  rescued  the  ship's  crew  and  this  that  he  had 
brought  the  trickster  to  Greenland.  This  was  the  priest. 

The  vellum  copy  of  this  book,  known  as  Frisbok,  may  be,  according 
to  Mr.  Reeves,  the  oldest  extant  manuscript  mentioning  Wineland. 


1  Vigfusson  and  Powell:  Origines  Islanclicae. 


60  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

There  are  references  to  the  region  and  events  which  happened  there 
in  other  ancient  narratives  which  have  never  been  even  partly 
ascribed  to  Ari.  Thus,  to  much  the  same  effect,  proceeds  "The 
Longer  Saga  of  Olaf  Tryggvason,"  which,  by  the  way,  is  not  the  one 
in  the  Flateybook : 

King  Olaf  then  sent  Leif  to  Greenland  to  proclaim  Christianity  there.  The 
King  sent  a  priest  and  other  holy  men  with  him  to  baptize  the  people  and  to 
instruct  them  in  the  true  faith.  Leif  sailed  to  Greenland  that  summer  and 
rescued  at  sea  the  men  of  a  ship's  crew  who  were  in  great  peril  and  lay  upon 
the  shattered  wreckage  of  a  ship ;  and  on  the  same  voyage  he  found  Wineland 
the  Good  and  at  the  end  of  the  summer  arrived  in  Greenland. 

This  passage  ends  like  that  of  the  Konungabok. 

Also  the  very  old  Eyrbyggja  Saga,  two  vellum  pages  of  which 
date  from  1300  and  one  entire  copy  from  about  1350,  relates  that: 

Snorri  and  Thorleif  Kimbi  went  to  Greenland Thorleif  Kimbi  lived 

in  Greenland  to  old  age.  But  Snorri  went  to  Wineland  the  Good  with  Karls- 
efni;  and  when  they  were  fighting  with  the  Skrellings  there  in  Wineland, 
Thorbrand  Snorrason,  a  most  valiant  man,  was  slain.1 

This  Snorri,  the  father  of  Thorbrand,  is  of  course  not  to  be  con- 
fused with  Snorri  the  little  Winelander,  son  of  Thorfinn  Karlsefni 
and  Gudrid,  Thorbiorn's  daughter. 

Dr.  Nansen  calls  attention  to  a  narrative  in  the  Longer  Saga  of 
King  Olaf  the  Saint  in  which  the  latter  is  made  to  speak  of  Leif 
Ericsson  without  calling  him  Lucky  or  mentioning  his  discovery. 

Besides  narratives,  there  are  divers  geographical  notices,  following 
an  old  formula  with  modifications.  Reeves  and  Rafn  have  quoted 
them  in  their  works  above  mentioned.  All  agree  as  to  the  relative 
positions  of  Helluland,  Markland,  and  Wineland  along  the  American 
coast.  One  already  quoted  from  the  Antiquitates  Americanse  (A.  M. 
Codex  770),  omits  the  name  Helluland,  but  makes  the  meaning 
sufficiently  clear  by  the  substitution  "  deserts,  uninhabited  places  and 
icebergs,"  indicated  as  "  south  from  Greenland  which  is  inhabited." 

Always  this  series  of  regions  is  located  "  south  from  Greenland." 
Usually  they  are  identified  as  belonging  to  Europe.  In  two  or  three 
instances  an  extension  of  the  formula  occurs,  suggesting  the  con- 
nection of  Wineland  to  Africa,  with  inevitable  implication  of  heat 
and  luxuriance.  In  "  The  Finding  of  Wineland  the  Good  "  Mr. 
Reeves  takes  some  pains  to  array  these  instances.  Probably  they  rep- 
resent the  usual  teaching  of  the  northern  schools  during  several 
centuries. 

His  most  significant  quotation  is  from  the  Arne  Magnean  MS. 
194  (8  vo.),  a  miscellany  partly  in  Latin,  partly  in  Icelandic: 


1  A.  M.  Reeves:  The  Finding  of  Wineland  the  Good,  p.  18. 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  6l 

Southward  from  Greenland  is  Helluland,  then  comes  Markland ;  thence  it  is 
not  far  to  Wineland  the  Good,  which  some  men  believe  extends  from  Africa, 
and,  if  this  be  so,  then  there  is  an  open  sea  flowing  in  between  Wineland  and 
Markland.  It  is  said,  that  Thorfinn  Karlsefni  hewed  a  "house-neat-timber" 
and  then  went  to  seek  Wineland  the  Good,  and  came  to  where  they  believed  this 
land  to  be,  but  they  did  not  succeed  in  exploring  it,  or  in  obtaining  any  of  its 
products.  Leif  the  Lucky  first  found  Wineland,  and  he  then  found  merchants 
in  evil  plight  at  sea,  and  restored  them  to  life  by  God's  mercy;  and  he  intro- 
duced Christianity  into  Greenland,  which  waxed  there  so,  that  an  episcopal 
seat  was  established  there  at  a  place  called  Gardar.  England  and  Scotland  are 
one  island,  *  *  * 

Dr.  Storm  attributed,  not  too  positively,  the  unique  and  perfectly 
warranted  hypothesis  of  an  "  open  sea  (the  strait  of  Cabot)  flowing 
in  between  Wineland  and  Markland  "  to  a  certain  geographically 
minded  Abbot  Nicholas 1  of  Thingeyri,  who  died  in  1 159.  This  would 
imply  still  greater  antiquity  for  the  accepted  statement  about  Africa, 
which  it  accompanies  as  an  after-thought  and  corollary.  Note  also 
that  the  passage  preserves  a  tradition  of  disappointment  hardly  so 
clearly  stated  elsewhere.  Apparently  the  carven  door-post,  or  what- 
ever else  the  doubtful  name  house-neat-timber  may  convey,  was  cut 
in  Markland ;  and  their  next  move,  according  to  the  saga  of  Thorfinn 
Karlsefni,  took  them  that  spring  into  temporarily  pleasing  quarters, 
where  they  afterward  underwent  a  trying  winter  and  nearly  lost 
heart.  This  timber  must  be  that  which  the  Flateybook  saga  represents 
him  as  carrying  to  Europe  and  selling  at  a  good  price,  then  learning 
that  it  was  mosur  or  mauser  wood  and  worth  far  more — on  all 
accounts  a  very  doubtful  anecdote.  We  shall  have  more  to  say  of 
this  material. 

From  1285  to  1295  there  are  a  series  of  entries  in  the  Icelandic 
Annals  concerning  a  certain  new  land  west  of  Iceland,  apparently 
including  "  the  feather  islands."  This  land  and  islands  were  found 
in  the  first  year  above  given,  and  Land-Rolf,  the  zealous  advocate 
of  an  expedition  to  thoroughly  explore  them,  died  in  the  later  year 
named.  During  the  interval  he  had  been  authorized  and  sent  out 
by  King  Eric  and  had  traveled  through  Iceland,  gathering  volunteers. 
If  he  had  lived  a  little  longer,  something  more  might  have  come  of 
it.  We  must  not  insist  over-precisely  on  direction,  which  these  and 
later  people  used  very  loosely.  That  it  should  be  Markland,  found 
again  from  another  point  and  believed  to  be  a  new  discovery,  may 
seem  strange,  but  to  suppose  with  Reeves  that  the  entries  mean  a 
part  of  Greenland — so  much  nearer  and  so  long  and  well  known — 

1  More  emphatically  credited  with  the  same  in  J.  Fischer  :  The  Discoveries  of 
the  Northmen  in  America. 

5 


62  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

is  surely  even  more  so.  Perhaps  the  conspicuous  out-jutting  elbow 
of  America,  barely  insular,  which  includes  Newfoundland,  was 
alternately  visible  and  not  visible  to  the  knowledge  of  northern 
Europeans  during  several  centuries,  getting  a  new  name — as  Brazil, 
Forest-land,  New-land,  Escociland — every  time  it  was  brought  again 
especially  to  attention,  although  the  older  name  might  also  be  used, 
as  for  another  region. 

This  was  a  common  phenomenon  in  old  geography.  Some  early 
maps  give  Greenland  a  minor  duplicate  in  "  Grocland,"  off  its  west 
coast  yet  not  so  far  as  America ;  and  the  Faroe  islands  called  Fris- 
land,  while  retaining  their  place,  gave  birth  in  cartography  to  a 
fictitious  great  Frisland  far  away  over  the  ocean.  The  name  "  feather 
islands "  was  applied  later  in  substance  to  divers  bird-crowded 
islets  (for  example  Funk  Island,  Cartier's  Bird  Island)  along  our 
northeastern  shore.  On  the  whole  it  is  likely  that  the  latter  was 
touched  at  some  point,  probably  Newfoundland  or  near  it,  by  these 
thirteenth  century  discoverers  who  effected  so  little.  At  any  rate 
some  such  episode  was  currently  related. 

Arngrim  Jonsson,1  one  of  the  few  Icelandic  authors  who  mentioned 
Wineland  in  the  gray  dawn  of  modern  life,  had  for  disciple  and 
coadjutor  young  Sigurdr  Stefansson,  a  grandson  of  Bishop  Gisli  Jons- 
son  of  Skalholt,  Iceland.  Sigurd  afterward  took  charge  of  the  dioces- 
nal  school  at  that  place,  unhappily  being  soon  drowned  in  a  neighbor- 
ing river  at  25  years  of  age.  His  chief  memorial  is  a  map  of  the 
northern  regions,  which  has  been  copied  by  Torfaeus,  Higginson, 
Wiess,  Vining,  and  others,  but  not  always  quite  accurately.  Although 
it  is  a  late  document  (probably  1590,  though  marked  1570)  both  its 
cartography  and  notes  bear  valuable  witness  to  the  tradition  of  his 
country,  where  national  memory  has  always  been  most  tenacious  and 
at  its  best.  This  map  shows  a  mountainous  or  hilly  peninsula,  marked 
Promontorium  Winelandium,  with  its  tip  nearly  opposite  southern 
England,  a  tapering  gulf  behind  it,  and  irresistibly  suggesting  by 
position  and  appearance  a  more  slender  Cape  Breton  Island — say 
the  long,  thin  part  beyond  Bras  D'  Or.  The  narrow  Gut  of  Canso, 
which  now  barely  separates  this  area  from  the  mainland,  was  of 
course  unknown  or  disregarded,  as  by  some  of  the  European  voyagers 
and  map-makers  of  the  sixteenth  century.  But  this  promontory  was 
not  considered  the  whole  region  or  country  of  Wineland,  for  a  note 
near  the  inner  end  of  the  Gulf  behind  it — hence  also  near  the  region 
about  the  head  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy — states  that  Wineland  is  not  far 


1  G.  Storm :  Studies  on  the  Vineland  Voyages,  before  cited. 


SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS 


VOL.    59,    NO.    19,    PL. 


SIGURDR  STEFANSSON    MAP   OF   1570   (1590?) 
(From  Studies  on  the  Vineland  Voyages,  by  Gustav  Storm) 


NO.    19  NORSE   VISITS   TO    NORTH    AMERICA — BABCOCK  63 

from  that  point ;  it  also  tells  us  that  Wineland  is  called  "  the  Good  " 
from  "  its  fertility  or  the  abundance  of  its  products,"  and  the  writer 
seems  unconscious  of  any  occult  meaning.  Another  note  adds  that 
it  is  believed  to  border  at  the  south  on  the  "  wild  sea  "  and  to  be 
separated  by  a  fiord  or  inlet  from  the  America  of  the  Spaniards.  The 
former  statement  would  fit  either  Nova  Scotia  or  southern  New 
England ;  the  latter  tempts  one  to  recognize  the  Chesapeake,  near  the 
southwestern  shore  of  which  de  Ayllon  had  planted  his  ill-fated  little 
colony  anticipating  Jamestown.  But  we  must  not  press  inferences 
too  far  or  too  confidently. 

Scandinavia 1  supplies  the  Honen  inscription  of  1010  to  1050  A.  D., 
existing  in  copy  only,  but  held  authentic  by  Prof.  Bugge.  It  includes 
fragmentary  letters  which  seem  to  make  up  "  Vinland,"  with  allusions 
to  its  remoteness  in  the  seas  and  to  neighboring  cold  regions.  Dr. 
Nansen,  however,  thinks  its  "  Vinlandia  "  may  be  a  myth,  located 
anywhere. 

Taking  all  these  minor  evidences  together,  we  find  them  affirming 
that  there  were  three  distinct  regions  south  of  Greenland,  namely, 
Helluland,  Markland,  and  Wineland,  in  that  succession  southward ; 
that  Wineland  was  perhaps  cut  off  from  Markland  by  water,  but  was 
not  very  distant,  at  least  in  its  northern  part ;  that  its  northern  end 
was  a  promontory,  and  its  southern  face  abutted  on  the  sea,  though 
it  was  perhaps  connected  to  Africa  ;  that  it  was  prolific  and  especially 
notable  for  its  spontaneous  yield  of  grain  and  grapes ;  that  Leif 
discovered  it  by  accident  and  Thorfinn  Karlsefni  visited  it,  fought 
there  with  natives,  losing  Thorbrand,  the  son  of  his  friend  Snorri, 
and  withdrew  in  disappointment ;  that  Thorfinn's  own  son  Snorri, 
was  born  in  Wineland,  and  that  he  and  Leif  found  valuable  wood 
fit  for  carving.  From  the  names  we  know  that  Markland  was  forest- 
clad  and  Helluland  a  region  of  flat  stones  and  desolation.  Perhaps 
we  may  fairly  add  that  Wineland  was  understood  to  be  of  great 
extent,  almost  marching  with  Markland  at  its  upper  limit  and  with 
the  later  Spanish  possessions  at  its  lower.  In  other  words  it  included 
perhaps  all  between  the  Chesapeake  and  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence ; 
but  there  is  no  need  to  insist  emphatically  on  these  boundaries. 

This  is  the  sum  of  our  information  ;  but  even  without  any  Wineland 
saga  we  should  not  be  quite  in  darkness.  Now,  if  there  be  two  or 
more  versions  of  the  Wineland  discovery  and  exploration,  the  pre- 
sumption, other  things  being  equal,  strongly  favors  that  one  which 


!H.  Hermannsson  :    The  Northmen  in  America.    Islandica  No.  2  (Bibliog- 
raphy) .    See  also  Nansen  :  In  Northern  Mists,  vol.  2. 


64  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS   COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

accords  with  these  miscellaneous  ancient  data  and  the  traditions 
embalmed  by  them.  It  so  happens  that  there  are  three  versions,  two 
being  so  nearly  identical  that  each  of  them  fits  the  above  items  and 
differing  only  in  minor  details  and  special  modes  of  statement: 
whereas  the  third,  that  of  the  Flateybook,  though  preserving  many  of 
these  features,  differs  radically  in  others  and  adds  a  great  number 
which  are  inconsistent  therewith  or  inherently  improbable  and  have 
no  corroboration  whatever. 

9.— THE  THREE  SAGAS  AND  THEIR  RELATIVE  STATUS 

The  three  extant  sagas  of  Greenland  colonization  and  Wineland 
discovery  and  exploration  are  very  old  manuscript  copies  on  vellum, 
all  the  original  documents  being  lost — as  in  other  and  even  more 
important  cases,  where  we  must  rely  on  secondary  evidence  for  all 
that  we  believe  of  the  past.  Two  of  these  sagas  occur  in  compilations 
— Hauksbook  and  the  Flateybook  already  mentioned — such  as  were 
often  made  for  monasteries  or  prominent  men,  desiring  to  preserve 
in  convenient  form  the  literature  or  records  which  they  valued.  Mis- 
cellaneous matter  therefore  accompanies  the  sagas :  Hauksbook,  for 
example,  having  contained  the  Landnamabook  and  the  Kristni-Saga, 
which  Bishop  Bryniolf  separated  for  convenience  in  recopying, 
though  they  at  last  reached  the  same  (Arne  Magnean)  collection.  A 
few  pages  were  lost  in  this  disintegrating  process,  but  these  do  not 
affect  the  Wineland  narrative,  which  has  always  remained  in  the 
body  of  the  book. 

A.  M.  Reeves  in  The  Finding  of  Wineland  the  Good  has  carefully 
worked  out  and  authenticated  all  that  is  known  of  the  history  of  the 
three  sagas.  Hauksbook,  it  appears,  was  copied  for  and  partly  by 
Hauk  Erlandsson,  a  descendant  of  Snorri,  the  Winelander,  son  of 
Gudrid  and  Thorfinn ;  Hauk  being  also  a  well  known  personage  of  his 
time,  a  lawman  in  Iceland,  as  well  as  a  knight  and  lawman  of  Norway, 
where  he  died  in  1334.  The  work  on  this  compilation  is  supposed  to 
have  begun  much  earlier  and  was  probably  completed  at  latest  in  1332 
during  his  last  visit  to  Iceland.  Hauk  wrote  in  person  the  final 
passage  of  the  saga,  bringing  the  list  of  Snorri's  descendants  down 
to  his  own  time  and  including  himself  by  name  and  title  (herra, 
acquired  in  1305)  ;  also  he  copied  about  half  of  page  99  and  two  lines 
of  p'age  100,  his  handwriting  being  well  known  and  exemplified  by 
a  still  extant  letter.  The  remainder  of  the  saga  was  copied  by  two 
assistants,  known  as  his  first  and  second  Icelandic  secretaries,  the  ink, 
penmanship,  and  orthography  changing  as  they  replace  each  other 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  65 

in  the  task.  There  is  no  evidence  that  he  or  they  composed  any  part 
of  the  saga  except  his  genealogical  pendant ;  but  the  contrary  appears 
from  the  occurrence  of  every  passage,  excepting  it  only,  in  the  parallel 
but  verbally  independent  saga  of  Eric  the  Red.  This  fact  causes  also 
a  very  general  belief  that  the  latter  was  the  title  of  the  saga  which  he 
transcribed,  but  for  some  reason  the  copy  in  the  Hauksbook  began 
in  the  middle  of  one  of  the  parchment  pages  with  a  blank  space  above 
it,  as  though  the  title  had  not  been  determined  upon.  Possibly  he 
grudged  the  supremacy,  even  in  title,  of  the  founder  of  Greenland, 
believing  his  own  ancestor's  achievements  more  important  still ;  yet, 
finding  the  usage  well  settled,  he  may  have  hesitated  to  disturb  it. 
In  the  eighteenth  century  "  The  Saga  of  Thorfinn  Karlsefni  and 
Thorbrand  Snorrason  "  was  written  in  for  title  by  Arne  Magnusson, 
the  greatest  of  Icelandic  collectors  and  an  authority  whose  every 
action  or  utterance  is  held  significant;  but  whether  there  were  any 
better  warrant  for  this  than  convenience  and  completeness  remains 
unknown.  It  is  usually  styled  The  Saga  of  Thorfinn  Karlsefni ;  and 
must  obviously  have  been  copied  between  1305  and  1334;  but  not 
from  the  same  copy  as  the  above  mentioned  saga  of  Eric  the  Red,  for 
the  differences  between  them,  although  slight,  run  through  every 
part  of  the  story,  making  everywhere  for  rather  less  archaic  and 
graphic  diction  in  the  former  saga  and,  when  there  is  any  difference  in 
matter  of  substance,  for  less  exact  statement — a  policy  hardly  to  be 
carried  out  by  three  men  in  the  same  way  through  a  whole  saga. 
Hauk's  close  supervision  might  account  for  such  changes,  if  we  could 
suppose  any  sufficient  motive  for  making  the  story  everywhere  a  little 
less  good  as  literature  and  in  some  places  a  little  less  serviceable  as  his- 
tory. His  career  and  his  choice  of  material  for  the  compilation  do  not 
favor  the  hypothesis  of  carelessness  or  lack  of  discrimination.  Since 
these  variations,  then,  can  hardly  be  due  to  accident  or  to  editing,  we 
must  suppose  two  slightly  different  antecedent  copies — one  being  a 
little  nearer  the  original  than  the  other — from  which  the  two  surviving 
sagas  were  independently  made.  For  convenience  of  distinction  we 
adhere  to  the  two  names,  but  believe  that  the  remote  original  bore 
Eric's  name  only. 

The  Flateybook's  title-page  recites  that  it  was  copied  by  two  priests, 
whose  names  are  given,  for  John  Haconsson,  known  in  other  instances 
as  a  patron  of  such  labors,  the  relevant  parts  of  it  being  finished,  as 
supposed,  about  1387  or  certainly  before  1400;  though  there  have 
been  later  additions,  which  do  not  concern  us.  This  makes  the 
transcription  about  three-quarters  of  a  century  later  than  that  of  the 
Saga  of  Thorfinn  Karlsefni,  roughly  stated. 


66  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

The  parts  in  question  form  two  chapters,  separately  imbedded  in 
the  Saga  of  Olaf  Tryggvason,  which  is  an  important  feature  of  that 
miscellaneous  and  bulky  compilation,  these  having  for  titles  respec- 
tively, A  Brief  Narrative  of  Eric  the  Red  and  A  Brief  Narrative 
of  the  Greenlanders,  but  being  adapted  to  form  a  connected  minor 
saga  when  put  together.  Probably  this  was  their  normal  condition 
and  the  scribes  dislocated  them  to  build  them  into  the  longer  saga,  a 
common  practice  of  that  period.  At  any  rate  they  have  often  been 
restored  to  this  hypothetical  continuity  and  so  published,  usually  as 
The  Saga  of  Eric  the  Red.  This  is  manifestly  confusing,  an  earlier 
claimant  of  that  title  being  already  in  possession.  It  will  be  better 
to  designate  it  The  Flateybook  Wineland  Saga.  The  Flateybook  is 
considered  the  handsomest  as  well  as  the  most  copious  of  all  the  Ice- 
landic manuscripts.  Formerly  its  Wineland  narrative  was  some- 
times assumed  to  have  been  composed  in  Greenland,  perhaps  from  the 
nature  of  the  two  headings  of  its  sections ;  but  we  do  not  know  that 
any  sagas  were  written  there  and  discover  nothing  like  affirmative 
testimony  in  this  instance — which,  indeed,  seems  close  to  a  decisive 
negation.  For  the  Flateybook  version  robs  Eric's  house  of  the  claim 
to  first  discovery  and  charges  his  daughter  Freydis  with  atrocious 
unbelievable  crime.  No  one  in  any  way  connected  with  Eric  or 
accepting  his  or  his  son's  leadership  could  be  expected  to  tolerate  it. 
Even  remote  descendants  would  not  enjoy  the  hearing  or  reading. 

Some  Scandinavian  writers  (see  Reeves's  notes)  have  credited  this 
version  conjecturally  to  the  north  of  Iceland,  others  lay  stress  on  the 
undoubted  first  finding  of  it  as  an  heirloom  in  the  west  on  Flat- 
island  of  Broadfirth,  but  cannot  follow  the  trail  much  farther. 
Back  of  its  rather  late  emergence  there  is  a  long  period  unaccounted 
for,  and  its  place  of  origin  is  unknown. 

The  Arne-Magnean  vellum  MS.  557  quarto,  containing  the  third 
of  these  old  sagas,  must  have  been  copied  about  1400,  according  to 
Vigfusson  and  other  Icelandic  authorities.  Its  transcriber  did  not 
have  Hauksbook  before  him,  because  he  copied  more  archaic  terms  and 
even  some  slight  verbal  errors,  not  in  the  saga  of  Thorfinn  Karlsefni, 
but  evidently  from  the  lost  original  or  an  intermediate  copy — most 
likely  the  latter.  Also,  as  pointed  out  by  Prof.  Olson,  it  does  not  have 
the  ending  of  the  pedigree,  which  Hauk  personally  added. 

A.  M.  Reeves  mentions  two  verbal  items,  which,  on  the  face  of 
them,  appear  to  favor  the  Flateybook.  It  gives  the  name  Midiokul 
for  the  first  point  in  Greenland  sighted  by  Eric,  adding  that  it  is  "  now 
called  Blacksark."  The  Thorfinn  saga  calls  it  Blacksark  only ;  that 
of  Eric  the  Red,  perhaps  by  the  transcriber's  error,  calls  it  only 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  6? 

Whitesark — the  Hutisark  of  Olaus  Magnus.  But  the  composer  of 
the  remote  common  original  of  the  last  two  sagas  may  not  have 
remembered  the  earliest  name  or  may  have  passed  it  by  as  unim- 
portant, and  the  passage  does  not  occur  in  the  Wineland-voyage 
narrative,  but  in  the  preliminary  account  of  the  achievements  of 
Eric  Raudi,  which  may  rest  on  a  different  time  basis.  In  any  case 
it  would  be  a  slight  reed  to  lean  on,  supporting  the  burden  of  so  much 
contrary  evidence. 

Likewise  of  the  two  Brands.  The  two  parallel  sagas  say  "  Bishop 
Brand  the  elder,"  which  of  course  could  not  have  been  written 
before  the  second  Bishop  Brand  was  consecrated — in  1263.  The 
Flateybook  says  "  Bishop  Brand "  only,  which  might  have  been 
written  at  any  date  after  the  consecration  of  the  first  Bishop  of  that 
name  and  before  that  of  the  second  one,  but  also  may  have  been 
written  after  the  latter  event,  if  the  Flateybook  saga-man  happened 
to  lose  sight  of  one  bishop.  Moreover  this  is  in  the  genealogical  tail 
of  the  story,  presumably  added  from  time  to  time,  as  we  see  in 
Hauk's  case,  and  does  not  throw  any  more  light  on  the  date  of  the 
body  of  the  saga  than  a  birth-entry  or  death-entry  in  a  family  Bible 
throws  on  the  date  of  the  neighboring  book  of  Genesis. 

Hauk  Erlendssen  might  not  notice  the  omission  of  the  elder  Brand 
or  of  a  mountain's  obsolete  name — if  he  knew  it — but  he  was  too 
prominent  and  cordially  interested  a  descendant  of  Thorfinn  and 
Gudrid  not  to  be  an  authority — probably  the  best  one  then  living — 
on  the  family  traditions  of  descent  and  achievement ;  so  his  copying 
and  evident  endorsement  of  the  saga  of  Thorfinn  Karlsefni  is  a 
strong  argument  for  its  claims,  as  to  all  the  main  points  at  least, 
though  he  should  probably  have  given  it  the  original  name  The  Saga 
of  Eric  the  Red. 

In  particular,  how  can  we  suppose  him  ignorant  whether  his 
ancestress  was  the  granddaughter  of  Vifil  of  Vifilsdale  and  went  to 
Greenland  as  an  unmarried  girl  with  her  father  Thorbiorn;  or 
whether  she  was  picked  up,  a  kinless  woman,  by  Leif  from  a  wreck 
at  sea,  together  with  an  otherwise  unknown  and  quite  apochryphal 
first  husband,  Thori  the  Eastman  ?  Either  Hauk  was  thus  incredibly 
ignorant,  or  he  wilfully  falsified  the  record  to  glorify  his  ancestors, 
or  the  version  preferred  by  him  is  the  right  one.  The  former  two 
alternatives  contravene  his  known  standing  and  character,  as  well  as 
all  the  early  writings  (except  the  Flateybook)  touching  this  subject; 
the  third  has  simply  nothing  but  the  Flateybook  against  it. 

This  instance  is  characteristic  of  the  latter's  elaborated  saga,  which 
must  have  been  produced  at  so  late  a  day  that  liberties  with  family 


68  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

history  were  felt  to  be  tolerably  safe.  Yet  it  seems  to  have  been 
almost  suppressed  for  two  centuries,  Mr.  Reeves's  *  diligent  search 
having  discovered  but  one  copy  made  from  it,  as  against  about  thirty 
made  from  the  other  two  sagas,  which,  in  general  outline,  chief 
events  and  most  minor  details,  are  really  one.  It  seems,  then,  that 
the  Flateybook  saga  never  can  have  had  much  influence  in  its  own 
home  until  put  forward  in  print  by  scholars  of  Continental  Europe ; 
whereas  the  earlier  and  simpler  form  of  the  narrative  was  accepted 
as  authentic  not  only  by  the  descendants  of  the  explorers  but  by  their 
Icelandic  neighbors  and  fellow  countrymen. 

Their  styles  afford  another  criterion ;  it  being  well  known  that 
hardly  any  literature  is  so  directly,  impressively,  and  nobly  epic, 
so  Homeric  in  quality,  as  the  early  Icelandic  sagas,  but  that,  as  always, 
the  first  flush  of  power  was  succeeded  after  a  time  by  greater  (or 
more  obvious)  self-consciousness  and  love  of  adornment,  producing 
good  work,  yet  not  so  good  as  before  and  easily  distinguishable. 
Even  in  the  English  translation  we  must  feel  that  the  saga  of  Thorfinn 
Karlsefni  belongs  to  an  earlier  and  nobler  period  than  the  Flatey- 
book story. 

Scandinavian  scholars,  more  intimately  enlightened,  bear  this  out 
with  emphasis.  Storm  insists  that  the  composition  of  the  latter  saga 
cannot  long  have  preceded  its  copying,  thus  making  the  date  perhaps 
1350  to  1380;  whereas  he  suggests  1270  for  the  other  narrative ;  and 
the  later  consideration  of  Finnur  Jonsson,  an  excellent  authority, 
quoted  by  Olson 2  with  approval,  carries  this  back  to  1200  confidently. 

Embedded  in  that  early  prose  are  two  epigrammatic  fragments  of 
verse,  which  no  doubt  antedate  all  sagas,  following  a  general  law  the 
world  over.  Storm  has  shown  that  their  metre  indicates  the  eleventh 
century  and  Reeves  has  pointed  out  a  very  archaic  choice  and  form 
of  language.  There  has  been  difficulty  in  exactly  determining  the 
meaning,  and  some  variants  in  certain  later  copies  apparently  have 
none  in  part,  the  sounds  and  forms  persisting  without  it,  through 
reverence  for  tradition,  as  often  happens  everywhere.  They  claim 
on  the  face  of  them  to  have  been  composed  in  Wineland  during  Karl- 
sefni's  expedition,  and  though  no  great  reliance  be  placed  on  this, 
we  may  be  sure  that  they  are  the  most  nearly  contemporary  com- 
positions on  the  subject  (except  his  sailing  directions  embedded  in 
the  saga)  which  we  are  ever  likely  to  see. 

The  framework  of  the  two  versions  may  be  compared  instructively. 
According  to  "  Eric  the  Red  "  and  "  Thorfinn  Karlsefni,"  Leif  the  son 


'A.  M.  Reeves:  The  Finding  of  Wineland  the  Good.     Appended  Notes. 
2  Julius  E.  Olson:  Original  Narratives  of  Early  Amer.  History,  vol.  i,  notes. 


NO.    19  NORSE   VISITS   TO    NORTH   AMERICA — BABCOCK  69 

of  Eric  accidentally  discovered  Wineland  as  already  stated.  Thorstein, 
his  brother,  failed  in  an  attempt  to  reach  it  the  next  year  and  returned, 
marrying  Gudrid  soon  afterward.  That  winter  he  died.  After  a 
time  she  married  Thorfinn  Karlsefni  and  set  out  with  him  for  Wine- 
land.  They  reached  in  succession  Helluland,  Markland,  the  peninsula 
of  Keelness,  the  Wonderstrands  and  Straumey  and  Straumfiord  of  the 
sea  currents.  They  made  their  home  for  the  winter,  first  in  a  bay 
behind  Straumey,  then  on  the  island  itself ;  finally  on  both,  getting 
the  benefit  of  both  regions.  In  the  spring  they  went  south,  finding 
another  bay  or  loch  called  Hop  by  them,  into  which  a  river  flowed, 
passing  thence  by  a  strait  to  the  sea.  Here  they  spent  a  year,  but 
at  last  had  to  leave  on  account  of  the  hostility  of  the  natives.  They 
returned  to  Straumey  and  spent  another  year  there  unmolested, 
incidentally  exploring'  the  other  side  of  Keelness,  apparently  the 
southeast  shore  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  including  a  part  of 
what  is  sometimes  called  the  Acadian  Bay.  Here  Thorvald  their 
helmsman,  another  son  of  Eric,  was  killed  by  an  archer  of  great 
activity,  whom  they  thought  abnormal.  Quarrels  among  them- 
selves about  the  married  women  caused  their  return  to  Greenland, 
thence  to  Iceland.  Biarni,  one  of  Thorfinn's  noblest  companions, 
went  down  at  sea  on  the  way,  having  given  his  life  in  a  sinking  ship 
for  that  of  an  unworthy  follower. 

The  Flateybook  saga,  it  would  seem,  rewards  this  Biarni  by  making 
him,  not  Leif,  the  accidental  discoverer  of  Wineland,  he  being  on  the 
way  from  Iceland  to  Heriulfsness  in  Greenland,  following  his  father 
Heriulf — a  relationship  unknown  to  Landnamabook.  He  touched 
three  lands,  evidently  meant  for  those  of  Karlsefni  taken  in  reverse 
order,  the  upper  part  of  Wineland  being  first  found.  Biarni  did  not 
die,  but  safely  reached  the  shore  in  front  of  his  father's  house,  on  his 
first  approach  to  Greenland,  an  improbable  achievement  often  sub- 
stantially repeated  in  this  saga.  Leif  blamed  Biarni  for  not  landing  on 
any  shore  that  he  discovered,  so  he  borrowed  Biarni's  ship  and  sailed 
forth  to  remedy  the  error.  He  found  the  three  "  lands,"  this  time  in 
north-to-south  order,  and  built,  "  Leif  's-booths  "  on  the  shore  of  a  bay, 
which  seems  a  composite  of  the  southern  Hop  and  the  northern  bay 
behind  Straumey.  He  returned  to  Greenland  for  no  reason  given, 
picking  up  Thori  the  Eastman  and  his  wife  Gudrid  from  a  wreck  on 
the  way. 

Next,  Leif's  brother  Thorvald  borrowed  the  ship  and  the  Wine- 
land  house  and  reached  the  latter  without  any  recorded  difficulty. 
From  this  abiding  place  he  explored  the  coast  westward  a  long  way 
and  afterward  explored  eastward  also  to  Keelness,  turned  that  cape, 


/O  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

found  and  killed  eight  natives  and  sustained  in  the  ship  the  resulting 
attack  of  many  canoes.  An  arrow  from  one  of  them  killed  him  and 
there  is  a  pretty  bit  about  his  burial  at  Crossness.  His  party  returned 
to  Greenland. 

Next,  Thorfinn,  having  married  Gudrid,  sailed  with  her  to  find 
Thorvald's  grave,  not  Wineland  in  its  own  right.  They  were  beaten 
about  and  returned  unsuccessful,  squarely  hitting  in  the  first  land- 
fall his  home  at  Lysufirth  far  up  the  coast.  He  died,  and  she  returned 
to  Ericsfirth  and  married  Thorfinn  Karlsefni  in  due  course. 

They  sailed,  and  found  Leif's-booths  and  dwelt  there.  Gudrid  gave 
birth  to  Snorri.  Indians  came  and  they  trafficked  and  fought  with 
them,  but  at  last  withdrew  to  Greenland  from  that  hostility.  Thorfinn 
carried  Wineland  products  to  Europe  and  bought  property  near  his 
former  home  in  northern  Iceland,  where  he  lived  and  died. 

Last  of  all,  Freydis  led  an  expedition  to  Leif's-booths,  quarreled 
with  companions  about  occupancy  and  other  things,  and  in  the  end 
very  wantonly  and  treacherously  compassed  the  murder  of  a  whole 
ship's  crew,  chopping  to  death  all  the  women,  after  capture,  with  her 
own  hand.  She  returned  with  a  false  tale,  but  Leif  suspected  and 
tortured  her  followers  into  confession,  though  he  spared  her  as  his 
sister,  while  predicting  evil. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  Flateybook  saga  substitutes  five  voyages 
that  reached  Wineland  for  only  two,  using  as  additional  leaders  nearly 
all  the  names  made  prominent  in  the  earlier  narrative.  Necessarily 
it  has  divided  up  Kjarlsefni's  experiences  and  geography  and  filled 
them  out  with  other  matter  to  make  them  go  around,  thus  causing 
confusion.  For  the  same  reason  and  to  be  more  exciting,  minor  items 
and  hints  have  been  elaborated,  sometimes  with  misunderstanding, 
and  in  other  instances  with  shifting  of  place.  For  example  Thor- 
vald's death  in  battle,  Christian  sentiments  and  picturesque  burial — 
the  result  of  a  wanton  massacre  properly  punished — seem  to  have 
been  worked  up  from  two  simple  unconnected  items  in  the  saga  of 
Thorfinn  Karlsefni,  put  together  for  dramatic  effect;  and  the  mo- 
mentary frenzy  of  Freydis  before  the  yelling  Indians  is  interpreted 
as  furious  malignity  and  developed  into  a  nightmarish  and  quite 
unbelievable  episode.  Perhaps,  as  Dr.  Storm  suggests,  the  reference 
to  quarrels  over  married  women  may  have  been  another  germ 
in  this  case,  though  affording  little  material. 

In  substituting  a  voyage  from  Iceland  for  a  voyage  from  Norway, 
the  probability  of  an  accidental  view  of  America,  as  he  points  out, 
has  been  destroyed.  Greenland  is  so  near  Iceland  that  any  one 
missing  its  lower  tip  would  discover  and  put  about  long  before 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  71 

crossing  the  very  much  greater  interval  to  America,  whereas  the 
full  width  of  the  ocean  would  leave  many  chances  of  strange  happen- 
ings and  miscalculations  in  times  before  the  mariners'  compass  and 
accurate  means  of  observation.  It  is  not  known  that  any  ship  out 
of  Iceland  for  Greenland  ever  made  America  first,  but  long  after 
Thorfinn's  time,  Cabot  with  far  better  equipment,  and  a  century 
later  Hudson,  sailing  from  northwestern  Europe  for  Greenland  or 
the  extreme  northeast  of  Labrador,  were  directed  to  a  more  southern 
shore ;  the  former  by  a  discouraging  southward  drift  of  ice,  the 
latter  by  the  bodily  force  of  storms.  Prof.  Horsford *  has  compiled 
and  printed  an  instructive  chart,  showing  the  recorded  drift  of  many 
derelicts  and  storm-driven  vessels  to  New  England  under  the  domin- 
ance of  the  currents  from  the  north  and  the  prevailing  winds.  But 
to  fall  within  their  power  one  must  sail  low  enough. 

Leif's  alleged  Wineland  house,  too,  is  a  monument  of  improba- 
bility— being  found  by  each  one  of  the  later  parties,  with  years 
between  them,  and  always  incredibly  ready  for  occupancy,  even 
after  the  neighboring  savages  had  gone  to  war  with  the  temporary 
white  intruders  and  would  have  liked  nothing  better  than  to  loot  and 
burn.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  cite  the  angry  Indians  who  "  pulled 
out  the  cross  " 2  from  the  grave  of  "  Champlain's  "  follower  and 
"  Digged  up  the  body  "  to  make  their  savage  sport  with  it.  Why 
should  they  spare  an  enemy's  home  ?  We  need  not  pick  out  and  dwell 
upon  all  such  untenable  items.  Mr.  Reeves  has  afforded*  every 
facility  in  The  Finding  of  Wineland  for  a  word  by  word  comparison, 
either  in  the  original  handwritten  Icelandic,  or  the  same  in  print, 
or  the  printed  English  translation.  It  is  disappointing  to  find  Dr. 
Fiske  declaring  of  the  additional  voyages,  "  it  seems  to  me  likely 
that  the  Flateybook  here  preserves  the  details  of  an  older  tradition 
too  summarily  epitomized  in  the  Hauksbook,"  for  surely  the  law  of 
literary  development  is  from  the  simple  to  the  complex.  There  are 
some  exceptions,  perhaps ;  but  the  internal  evidence  is  strongly 
adverse  to  the  supposition  that  we  have  one  before  us.  Dr.  Fiske's 
notes  clearly  show  that  he  had  not  seen  the  above  work  of  Reeves 
and  the  English  translation  of  Storm's  paper  until  after  his  own  text 
was  prepared  ;  and  he  can  hardly  have  given  them  adequate  considera- 
tion. The  Flateybook  Wineland  saga  bears  the  familiar  marks  of 
derivation  and  development.  This  does  not  necessarily  mean  that 
the  composer  of  it  had  "  Eric  the  Red  "  or  "  Thorfinn  Karlsefni  " 


Horsford:  The  Landfall  of  Leif,  p.  42. 

2M.  Lescarbot :  Nova  Francia.     Erondelle's  transl.,  p.  105. 


72  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

before  him,  or  either  of  the  parchments  from  which  they  were  copied. 
More  likely  there  was  another  copy  or  more  than  one,  almost  identical 
in  some  parts — for  whole  sentences  are  practically  repeated,  though 
not  always  in  the  same  place — but  with  omissions,  additions,  and 
changes ;  and  further  traditional  material,  oral  or  written,  may 
have  been  worked  in  for  the  first  time  during  transcription.  Thus 
Gudrid's  antecedents  and  first  appearance  differ  widely  in  the 
accounts,  as  we  have  seen,  but  there  is  a  close  parallelism  in  the 
episode  of  the  western  settlement,  though  some  passages  are  not  com- 
mon to  both.  Undoubtedly  we  find  greater  dignity  and  deeper 
tragedy  in  the  Hauksbook  version,  particularly  as  concerns  the 
behavior  of  Gudrid  herself  in  the  grief  and  horror  of  that  uncanny 
death-night.  It  seems  the  elder  form,  but  the  other  must  have 
developed  early.  Both  put  words  of  prophecy  in  Thorstein's  mouth, 
most  reasonably  explained  as,  at  least  in  part,  of  later  interpolation. 
They  display  a  knowledge  of  Gudrid's  religious  eminence  toward  the 
close  of  her  life  and  the  subsequent  prosperity  of  her  family. 

The  Flateybook  Wineland  saga  is  chiefly  important  as  at  least 
partly  independent  testimony  to  much  that  is  recorded  in  the  others  ; 
and  for  some  items  which  it  adds  that  seem  authentic.  If  all  else 
were  lost,  we  might  still  learn  from  it  of  Helluland,  Markland, 
Wineland  and  Keelness,  their  relative  position  and  their  chief  char- 
acteristics ;  the  island  north  of  the  lower  end  of  the  land,  which  is 
almost  the  direction  of  Grand  Manan  after  rounding  the  south- 
western tip  of  Nova  Scotia;  the  behavior  of  the  tide  and  the  great 
shallows  left  on  the  ebb,  suiting  equally  Thorfinn's  great  currents 
and  what  may  be  seen  now  along  the  lateral  bays  and  rivers  of 
the  Great  Bay  of  Fundy  the  fiord-indented  mountainous  shore  of 
New  Brunswick  and  Maine  just  beyond ;  the  voyages  of  Leif  and 
Thorfinn;  the  birth  of  Snorri  and  the  death  of  Thorvald,  both 
in  Wineland;  the  savages  who  had  furs  to  trade  and  were  im- 
provident in  dealing,  who  took  flight  at  the  bellowing  of  a  bull  and 
afterward  attacked  the  settlers  with  fury ;  the  two  days'  sail  between 
Helluland  and  Markland  and  between  Markland  and  Wineland — 
with  divers  other  matters  alike  in  all  versions.  As  added  items  we 
have  Thorfinn's  stockade,  a  precaution  which  he  would  be  likely  to 
borrow  from  his  enemies  after  danger  threatened ;  the  piling  of 
timber  above  a  cliff,  perhaps  as  now,  where  a  shute  or  runway  shows 
at  the  north  point  of  Grand  Manan ;  the  tall  and  striking  figure  of 
the  hostile  chief  ;  the  wooden  structure  on  an  island,  possibly  a  shed 
or  bin  for  wild  rice  gathered  by  Indian  women,  who  are  still  the  chief 
garnerers  of  the  northwest,  and  a  much-expounded  statement  that 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  73 

the  sun  had  eyktarstad  and  dagmalastad  on  the  shortest  day  of 
winter. 

The  history  of  the  controversy  over  this  latter  item  will  be  found 
in  Reeves's  notes  appended  to  The  Finding  of  Wineland  the  Good, 
with  the  verdict  of  two  astronomical  experts,  working  independently 
on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  that  it  proves  only  a  northern  limit  about 
the  upper  end  of  Newfoundland.  In  other  words,  Leif  or  rather 
Thorfinn  can  not  have  been  farther  northward  than  this  at  the  time  of 
taking  the  observation,  but  may  have  been  somewhat  farther  south — 
how  far  is  not  stated. 

Bishop  Howley1  presents  what  may  be  called  the  gastronomic 
view,  as  opposed  to  the  celestial.  Dagmalastad  is  admittedly  break- 
fast-time, and  the  eykt  measured  the  interval  to  the  afternoon  meal. 
Thus  regarded,  the  Icelanders  were  merely  expressing  their  satis- 
faction at  being  able  to  eat  both  meals  by  sunlight  every  day  through 
the  winter.  Of  course  they  were  sailors  and  practical  would-be 
settlers  and  this  view  is  somewhat  tempting  at  first  glance. 

But  they  really  could  take  observations  at  need  after  a  fashion, 
and  were  willing  to  report  the  same  for  the  people  at  home;  as  in 
the  celebrated  case  of  that  Arctic  expedition  in  1266,  which  went 
farther  than  any  one  could  follow  it  until  the  nineteenth  century. 
The  sun,  they  reported,  shone  about  July  25th  over  the  gunwale  of 
a  seven-oared  boat  on  the  face  of  a  man  lying  across  the  bottom  with 
his  head  against  the  opposite  rail.  Also  at  a  given  time  the  sun  was  as 
high  at  midnight  as  when  it  was  in  the  northwest  in  settled  Green- 
land. The  first  latitude  depends  in  part  on  the  height  of  the  gunwale 
and  the  exact  position  of  the  man's  face ;  the  second  on  the  chosen 
point  of  the  settlement.  Probably  there  was  approximately  a  stand- 
ard size  and  pattern  of  boat  and  Gardar  would  be  understood  as  the 
home  observatory ;  so  these  two  made  after  all  a  pair  of  rough  and 
ready  indications ;  from  which  Raf n  deduced  a  parallel  between  the 
75th  and  76th  degrees.  Thalbitzer  thinks  they  probably  did  not  pass 
the  73d,  but  bases  his  estimate  on  matters  of  the  coast-outline 
rather  than  calculation.  This  primitive  nautical  observation  makes 
a  good  precedent  for  the  Flateybook  statement,  which  also  has  an 
authentic  look,  although  there  is  no  record  of  it  before  1387  or  there- 
about. 

Apparently  it  relates  to  the  northern  dwelling-place  beside 
Straumfiord,  which  may  well  come  within  the  limits  allowed  by  the 
modern  astronomers'  calculation,  especially  if  we  allow  for  some 

1  Vinland  Vindicated,  before  cited. 


74  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

looseness  of  language  as  in  the  other  case.  It  is  true  that  the  char- 
acteristics of  Hop  are  blended  with  those  of  Straumfiord  in  the  con- 
fusion of  this  corrupted  saga;  but  the  latter  preponderate  on  the 
whole  and  we  cannot  suppose  the  more  southerly  point  to  be  intended. 
Grand  Manan  would  have  made  a  good  observatory.  But  no  doubt 
Dr.  Fiske  is  right  in  holding  that  the  context  implies  a  length  of 
winter  day  which  surprised  them ;  so  it  must  have  exceeded  that  at 
Dublin,  or  even  Rouen,  which  they  currently  visited  in  their  trading 
voyages.  Perhaps  we  might  add  Bordeaux,  taken  by  their  Norse 
kinfolk  a  century  or  two  before  and  which  they  may  have  known  very 
well,  but  this  after  all  is  hardly  certain  enough  for  reliance. 

They  were  no  doubt  the  first  observers  of  the  difference  between 
isothermal  lines  and  lines  of  latitude  crossing  the  Atlantic  ocean,  a 
dislocation  which  the  human  mind  even  yet  finds  it  hard  to  realize 
or  regard  as  quite  natural.  Some  point  in  southern  New  England 
seems  called  for;  though  possibly  Yarmouth  or  Eastport  might  do. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  whence  these  bits  of  really 
illuminating  tradition  drifted  into  the  Flateybook  version,  but  they 
cannot  offset  the  grave  charges  against  it.  The  preference  long  and 
generally  given  this  later  derivative  and  corrupted  saga  has  been  one 
of  the  chief  causes  of  investigation  going  astray.  Two  others  are  a 
persistent  conception  of  Wineland  as  an  organized  continuing  colony 
and  the  innocent  acceptance  of  the  present  seaboard  as  that  of  the 
year  1000.  Of  course  there  are  still  others. 

Dr.  Fiske.  says  in  a  note  it  "  is  like  summer  boarders  in  the  country 
struggling  to  tell  one  another  where  they  have  been  to  drive — past 
a  school-house,  down  a  steep  hill,  through  some  woods  and  by  a  saw 
mill  "  ;  for  "  the  same  general  discription  will  often  apply  well  enough 
to  several  different  places."  This  is  an  apt  illustration  of  the  muddled 
and  unhelpful  presentation  of  locality  in  the  Flateybook,  but  does 
not  apply  at  all  to  the  graphic,  precise,  and  individualized  sailing 
directions  of  the  earlier  Hauksbook  saga,  or  still  better,  its  companion 
Eric  the  Red. 

Bishop  Bryniolf,  with  a  discoverer's  delight,  no  doubt  impressed 
the  importance  of  his  ample  and  beautiful  prize  on  Torfaeus  and  the 
royal  recipient,  and  it  was  most  natural  that  the  historian  should  put 
its  version  prominently  forward  in  his  history  (1705),  the  first  of  all 
books  on  Wineland,  though  printing  with  it  the  Saga  of  Thorfinn 
Karlsefni ;  also  that  the  great  von  Humboldt,  knowing  no  Icelandic, 
should  accept  his  verdict  and  consider  mainly  in  the  Examen  Critique 
those  two  chapters  from  the  Tryggvason  saga,  though  not  failing  to 
note  the  evident  effect  of  long  continued  oral  transmission  on  an 


NO.    19  NORSE   VISITS   TO    NORTH    AMERICA — BABCOCK  75 

originally  simple  story.  Successive  writers,  in  rather  lengthened 
series,  mainly  took  their  cue  from  these  works,  with  little  heed  to  his 
warning,  so  that  their  widely  differing  schemes  of  the  explorations 
were  based  on  the  Flateybook's  entangled,  blurred,  disjointed  and  be- 
wildering data — and  likewise  the  objections  of  the  sceptical  dealt 
often  with  items  misreported  or  lacking  foundation.  Rafn's  volu- 
minous Antiquitates  Americans,  though  doing  the  great  service  of 
presenting  almost  the  entire  array  of  Scandinavian  evidence  and 
urging  the  subject  effectively  on  public  attention,  repeated  this  time- 
honored  error,  adding  to  it  the  Newport  tower,  the  Dighton  rock, 
wild  Indian-corn  and  other  damaging  credulities.  Even  Vigfusson's 
Origines  Islandicse,  published  long  after  his  death,  held  in  the  text 
the  same  ground  about  the  Flateybook,  contradicting  one  of  its  own 
notes,  and  provoking  Professor  Olson's  very  natural  suggestion  that 
"  some  hand  less  cunning  than  Vigfusson's  "  had  perhaps  been  at 
work.  Similarly  Fiske's  Discovery  of  America  adheres  generally  in 
the  text  to  the  Flateybook,  though  its  notes  feel  the  influence  of 
new  light  recently  received. 

Dr.  Gustav  Storm  of  Chrfstiania  was  the  first  to  present  effectively 
the  true  state  of  the  case  in  his  pivotal  Studies  on  the  Vineland  Voy- 
ages, an  English  translation  of  which  will  be  found  in  the  Memoires 
de  la  Societe  Royale  des  Antiquaires  du  Nord  1888.  Reeves  followed 
his  lead  (1890)  in  The  Finding  of  Wineland  the  Good,  a  work  char- 
acterized by  Dr.  Fiske  as  "  the  best  book  we  have  on  the  subject  in 
English  or  perhaps  in  any  language."  Probably  it  is  so,  if  by  "  best  " 
we  understand  the  most  accurate  and  elaborate  within  its  limits,  rather 
than  the  most  original.  It  is  the  only  one  giving  facsimiles  of  the 
vellum  pages  of  the  Wineland  sagas  and  an  approximately  complete 
list  of  the  extant  later  copies,  its  reproductions  in  print  of  the  original 
Icelandic,  with  line  for  line  carefully  stated  English  translations,  are 
accepted  as  the  most  reliable  and  it  adds  by  footnotes  and  final  notes, 
in  data  and  commentary,  a  very  great  amount  of  new  and  highly  in- 
structive material.  But  he  passes  by  almost  wholly  the  subject  of 
localities  which  his  forerunner  had  treated  with  great  care  and,  as  to 
most  points,  I  think,  with  nearly  exact  insight.  Dieserud1  (1901), 
in  a  valuable  paper  before  the  American  Geographical  Society,  and 
Olson  in  his  condensed  and  clear  preface  to  the  Voyages  of  the 
Northmen  in  the  Scribner's  series  "  The  Original  Narratives  of  Early 
American  History  "  have  emphatically  taken  the  same  ground ;  which 
is  not  likely  to  be  lost  again. 


ljmil  Dieserud:  Norse  Discoveries  in  America.     Reprint  from  Bull.  Amer. 
Geogr.  Soc. 
6 


76  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

io.— THE  MOST  AUTHENTIC  WINELAND  HISTORY 

Reeves,  treating  the  two  parallel  sagas  as  practically  one,  has 
presented  an  English  version  which  follows  the  "  Tho/finn  Karl- 
sefni  "  Hauksbook  almost  exclusively  in  the  text,  giving  by  foot- 
notes the  corresponding  words  of  "  Eric  the  Red,"  where  these 
differ.  It  will  be  better  to  reverse  this  preference  here,  incidentally 
mentioning  such  divergencies  of  the  first  named  saga  as  may  seem 
helpful. 

Two  centuries  at  least  intervened  between  the  events  narrated  and 
the  composition  of  the  earliest  form  of  the  complete  saga.  We  have 
to  consider,  then,  just  what  this  word  means  and  how  far  what  it 
stands  for  may  be  relied  on  after  so  long  a  time  had  elapsed.  Saga, 
we  are  told,  meant  story,  broadly ;  though  a  more  restricted  signific- 
ance is  given  by  later  usage  ;  and  stories,  of  course,  are  of  many  kinds. 
The  Book  of  Ruth,  Freeman's  Norman  Conquest,  Mark  Twain's 
Innocents  Abroad,  and  Henry  James'  ghastly  The  Turn  of  the  Screw, 
are  all  undeniably  stories.  In  early  Iceland  the  case  was  the  same. 
The  Heimskringla  is  an  honest  rendering  of  history  on  the  great 
scale,  very  picturesquely  given,  for  a  long  line  of  northern  kings, 
in  accordance  with  the  tests  and  standards  then  available ;  the  Banda- 
manna  Saga  is  an  almost  dainty  bit  of  comedy,  with  social  and  political 
strategy  for  its  fabric  and  an  altogether  delightful  prodigal  father, 
artfully  helpful  at  need,  for  its  very  most  winning  figure;  the 
Volsunga  Saga  is  perhaps  the  greatest  of  myth  stories,  with  Shake- 
spearean dramatic  qualities  in  all  its  later  portion,  as  Andrew  Lang 
has  written;  the  Saga  of  Nial  the  Burned — one  of  the  great  works  of 
the  world — contains  as  sound  and  noble  characterization  as  may  be 
found  anywhere  and  the  most  complete  of  all  presentations  of  the 
practical  working  of  early  law ;  the  Grettir  Saga  is  a  Robin  Hood 
romance,  touched  with  human  sympathy  and  deepened  to  awful 
tragedy  by  the  haunting  of  evil  eyes,  dead  and  damned,  never  relent- 
ing, which  bring  fear  where  no  fear  was  and  force  him  to  endure 
the  company  of  assassins  rather  than  face  the  dark,  so  preparing  his 
inevitable  doom  ;  the  Saga  of  Cormac  is  a  string  of  his  poems  or  those 
attributed  to  him,  like  so  many  beads,  on  a  fine  thread  of  wayward 
northern  love-story  and  travel ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  Gunnlaug 
the  Serpent  Tongue,  though  in  a  more  comforting  and  cheerful  key. 
The  list  of  deviations  might  be  very  greatly  increased  without  effort. 

In  a  field  so  varied  every  way,  there  should  be  room  for  a  ship's 
log  and  business-like  statement  of  explorers'  notes,  afterward  filled 
out  with  items  and  episodes  derived  originally  from  members  of  the 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  77 

party.  This  is  what  we  seem  to  have  in  the  voyage-section  of  the  Saga 
of  Thorfinn  Karlsefni.  But  of  course  we  should  be  on  our  guard 
against  all  signs  of  later  sophistication. 

It  certainly  means  to  tell  the  substantial  truth,  as  did  most  of 
the  writings,  not  avowedly  mythical  or  fanciful,  of  that  early  time. 
The  period  of  extravagances,  like  the  Arrow-Odd  Saga,  of  imitations 
and  forgeries  and  of  literary  sentimental  productions,  often  very 
pretty  but  quite  openly  fictitious,  like  Frithiof's  Saga  and  the  Saga 
of  Viglund  the  Fair,  was  yet  far  ahead.  The  conscientiousness  of 
the  Landnamabook  had  set  the  pace,  and  men  wrote  historically, 
anxious  not  to  vary  from  the  essential  truth  of  what  had  befallen. 

Unfortunately  only  a  minority  of  these  earlier  Icelandic  sagas 
remain — some  thirty-five  in  all;  for  the  world  has  lost  a  great 
treasure.  It  is  natural  that  we  should  prize  them/  even  overrate 
them,  when  we  are  induced  to  know  them  at  all ;  but  we  must  not 
regard  them  quite  as  we  should  the  modern  painstaking  work  of  a 
Parkman  or  a  Motley.  Their  composers  were  quite  without  our  tests 
of  probability  in  many  things,  notably  in  things  supernatural.  Even 
the  ghost-game  was  under  different  and  prodigious  rules,  which  we 
find  out  of  keeping ;  for  a  ghost  came  usually  in  the  body  and 
veritably  out  of  the  grave  or  dripping  from  the  sea,  and  he  could 
be  clutched  and  broken  and  killed  like  a  man.  With  them  the  grue- 
some, fully  believed  in,  quite  reached  its  climax.  What  iron  nerves 
the  northern  people  must  have  had  to  support  existence ! 

Moreover,  like  all  unsophisticated  non-analytical  folk,  these  nar- 
rators were  liable  to  confuse  their  own  inferences  with  what  actually 
was,  or  could  be,  known ;  the  best  of  them  is  as  ready  as  any  Greek 
historian  with  his  word-for-word  dialogues  of  two  centuries  earlier, 
though  these  were  admittedly  unrecorded  at  the  time  of  utterance  and 
most  unlikely  to  linger  for  a  week  without  change  in  any  mind.  The 
truth  of  the  sagas  *  is  not  then  in  all  cases  that  of  absolute  precision. 
They  aimed  to  present  past  conditions  and  occurrences  in  the  most 
graphic  and  dramatic  fashion,  making  them  live  again  for  the  reader 
or  hearer.  Apparently  the  Old  Testament  narratives  were  their 
model ;  their  own  histories  developing  and  diverging  from  it  in  so 
far  as  their  customs,  ideals,  and  beliefs  differed  from  those  of  its 
writers,  and  the  work  of  each  saga-man  being  conditioned  by  the 
special  material  before  him,  as  well  as  by  his  individual  gifts. 

The  first  sagas  were  doubtless  very  simple  and  oral,  having  for 
contemporaries  brief  stories  and  spell-songs  in  verse,  occasionally 

1  Yet  see  Laing's  preface  to  Heimskringla,  p.  188,  concerning  the  local  fidelity 
of  the  Orkneyinga  Saga. 


78  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

carved  in  wood  in  the  runic  alphabet,  as  told  us  by  Egil's  Saga ; 
magic  formulas  and  sailing  directions,  besides  other  useful  memoran- 
da, being  also  thus  preserved.  Such  tales  were  a  part  of  education, 
as  well  as  a  means  of  entertainment,  wherever  people  gathered,  say 
at  the  Althing,  or  about  their  home-fires  in  the  long  halls  during 
the  earlier  hours  of  winter  nights. 

When  Ari  Frodi  inaugurated  Icelandic  prose  literature  a  little 
after  the  year  1 100,  the  experiment  "  took  "  as  we  say,  but  most  of 
his  disciples  or  emulators  must  have  found  it  easier  to  write  briefly. 
Later  the  tales  of  a  neighborhood  or  those  that  hung  about  a  notable 
man  would  often  be  welded  together  by  other  hands.  If  this  work 
were  done  mainly  by  one  writer  there  would  be  general  unity  of 
style  and  literary  effect,  but  with  the  original  elements  yet  distinguish- 
able. The  great  sagas  are  all  of  this  composite  character ;  yet  with 
this  imposed  artistic  unity,  though  it  may  be  harder  to  dissect  Egla 
or  Laxdaela  than  the  Eyrbyggja  Saga,  which  almost  dissects  itself. 

Our  Wineland  saga,  though  not  the  longest,  is  clearly  of  their 
class  and  kind.  It  seems  that  a  shorter  Saga  of  Eric  the  Red  and 
one  of  Thorfinn  Karlsefni's  voyage  must  have  been  thus  united  in  it, 
including  also  parts  of  a  lost  saga  of  Leif — other  fragments  of  the 
latter  being  represented  perhaps  by  the  Thorgunna  chapters  of  the 
Eyrbyggja  Saga.  The  same  hand  has  polished  and  kneaded  it  all, 
introducing  some  illustrative  adornments  like  the  incantation  scene, 
chiefly,  though  not  quite  exclusively,  in  the  preliminary  Greenland 
section.  There  seems  to  have  been  great  care  on  the  part  of  this 
final  saga-man,  say  of  1200,  not  to  confuse  or  distort  Thorfinn's  careful 
memoranda  of  coastal  geography. 

As  the  saga  comes  to  us,  the  contrast  in  subject  matter  is  obvious 
and  great.  The  phantoms,  miracles,  magic,  and  prophecy  are  all 
in  the  earlier  Greenland  part,  the  sailing  directions  all  in  that  relating 
to  Wineland.  The  former  must  be  considered  an  historical  romance, 
embodying  all  that  we  know  of  Red  Eric,  as  well  as  Gudrid's  ancestry 
and  early  life,  her  loves  and  bereavements ;  the  latter  is  a  matter  of 
fact  statement  of  her  unique  adventure  in  exploration  with  her  hus- 
band, adding  bits  of  information  and  episodical  anecdote.  The  record 
making  the  backbone  of  this  voyage-history  might  have  been  origin- 
ally in  very  few  words,  not  vastly  exceeding  the  inscription  found  on 
one  of  the  Women's  Islands  in  Baffin's  Bay.  That  such  guides  to 
future  explorers,  travelers,  traders  and  colonists  were  matters  of  care 
and  conscience  to  competent  early  navigators  appears  very  clearly 
from  Champlain's  seventeenth  century  account  of  the  way  to  get  into 
the  Penobscot,  Ivar  Bardsen's  fourteenth  century  account  of  the  way 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  79 

to  reach  the  Greenland  colony  and  the  ancient  memoranda  repeated 
by  the  I2th  century  Landnamabook.  There  would  be  plenty  of 
opportunity  for  that  brief  Norse  record,  during1  their  shipboard  life 
and  the  three  Wineland  winters.  So  careful  a  man  as  Thorfinn,  with 
such  a  wife  as  Gudrid  beside  him,  seeking  to  plant  a  colony  and 
show  others  the  way,  surely  would  not  have  left  this  important  matter 
to  the  chances  of  memory  only.  Runes  would  have  answered  very 
well,  the  task  being  light  and  easy.  The  result  is  the  only  saga  of 
exploration,  with  just  one  other  to  be  doubtfully  excepted. 

The  residuum  of  verse  *  in  it  may  seem  odd  company  for  coast- 
notes  and  distances,  though  Thorhall's  derision  in  that  form  had  a 
very  practical  turn  at  the  end  of  an  unsatisfying  winter ;  but  verses 
often  appear  in  Icelandic  sagas.  Sometimes  they  are  the  known  pro- 
ductions of  the  poet-champions  celebrated,  or  imitation  of  their 
work,  both  kinds  being  exemplified  by  the  sagas  of  Cormac  and 
Egil ;  sometimes,  as  in  Gretla,  they  are  chiefly  foreign  interpolations 
of  no  taste  nor  skill ;  or  again  they  may  be  real  or  supposed  relics 
of  older  balladry.  In  the  Saga  of  the  Heath-Slayings — that  savage, 
unforgettable  epic,  which  somehow  recalls  the  equally  intense  and 
primitive  old  Scotch  border-ballad  with  the  refrain  "  and  my  gear's 
a  gone  " — the  basic  tales  in  verse  are  not  always  quoted  from,  but 
cited  occasionally  by  the  prior  author's  name.  Both  plans  are  largely 
and  about  equally  adopted  in  the  Eyrbyggja  Saga. 

In  the  Saga  of  Eric  the  Red,  a  not  extravagant  ingenuity  may 
distinguish  the  episodes  of  Thorhall  the  Huntsman,  the  Gaelic  Run- 
ners, the  Battle  at  Hop,  the  Death  of  Thorvald,  the  Markland 
Captives,  and  the  Death  of  Biarni,  each  easily  separable  and  individ- 
ual, as  probably  single  ballads  in  their  original  shape.  That  of  the 
Gaels  Haki  and  Haekia  has  been  inserted  in  the  wrong  place,  presum- 
ably by  the  final  saga-writer,  making  them  find  grapes  and  grain 
before  finding  birds'  eggs  and  having  an  overlapping  joint  with  the 
context,  more  instantly  obvious  than  that  of  the  two  creation  legends 
in  Genesis.  This  anecdote,  if  veracious,  belongs  evidently  to  the 
next  autumn  at  earliest. 

The  place-names  of  the  saga  have  been  transferred  from  Iceland,  for 
example,  Hop,  Straumey,  and  Kjalarness,  just  as  Oxford  of  Mary- 
land or  Plymouth  of  Massachusetts  derived  their  names  through 
English  colonists  from  English  towns ;  or  they  are  descriptive  and  of 
general  application  where  the  same  conditions  prevail,  as  Markland 


JProf.  Diman's  critique  of  De  Costa's  "Pre-Columbian  Discovery."     North 
American  Review,  1869,  vol.  109,  p.  269. 


8O  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

or  Helluland;  or  commemorative,  as  Blarney,  where  they  slew  a 
bear.  Furdurstrandir,  The  Wonderstrands,  if  not  obviously  and 
precisely  descriptive,  is  descriptively  explained  in  the  sagas,  only 
one  meaning  being  given  by  them ;  which  there  is  strong  reason  to 
accept.  However,  Dr.  Nansen  dissents  (see  In  Northern  Mists), 
and  would  make  it  commemorate  some  undisclosed  wonders,  or  pos- 
sibly a  memory  picture  of  beautiful  tropical  islands,  seen  or  heard 
about  or  of  mythical  heavens  anciently  modeled  thereon.  The  topic 
will  be  resumed  in  a  later  chapter.  The  name  is  not  on  the  Iceland 
maps,  and  Mr.  Stefansson  of  the  Library  of  Congress,  a  south-Ice- 
lander by  birth  and  long  residence,  does  not  know  of  it  there. 

Apparently  this  is  the  one  invention  of  the  explorers  in  local  nomen- 
clature and  one  of  the  most  significant  items  of  their  saga,  defining 
aptly  the  impression  of  the  typical  American  sea-shore  of  intermin- 
able strand  and  dune,  which  they  could  never  have  encountered  be- 
fore and  would  never  afterward  find  elsewhere.  It  would  have  been 
equally  unknown  to  the  later  saga-man  or  even  to  Hauk  Erlendson, 
who  copied  him  in  the  first  third  of  the  fourteenth  century  since 
neither  of  these  could  be  aware  of  anything  distinctively  American 
except  from  the  Wineland  sagas  and  traditions. 

The  methods  of  naming  above-mentioned  overlap  in  some  degree, 
so  that  it  is  not  always  possible  to  say  whether  old,  general  associa- 
tions or  new  observation  have  had  the  greater  share.  One  would  say 
that  these  Icelandic  visitors  were  rather  more  careful  than  some 
of  their  successors  to  avoid  such  incongruities  as  the  Naples  of 
interior  New  York,  or  as  Snow  Hill,  a  county  seat  beside  a  small 
cypress-bordered  river  in  a  flat  farming  region  near  the  sea.  But 
no  doubt  it  is  safe  to  distrust  unlikely  and  uncorroborated  explana- 
tions of  the  saga  names  or  events,  especially  where  we  are  given  a 
choice  of  two  in  different  versions;  for  example,  the  alternatives 
about  Keelness  or  the  two  accounts  of  the  first  finding  of  the  grapes. 
They  have  the  air  of  afterthoughts,  accounting  for  or  illustrating 
some  item  as  to  which  there  was  no  further  light,  but  which  the 
saga-men,  or  the  composers  of  material  which  they  incorporated, 
were  not  self-denying  enough  to  merely  leave  as  found. 

The  personages  of  the  story  were  born,  and  for  the  most  part 
reared,  under  the  Northern  pre-Christian  religion ;  so  it  would 
not  seem  strange  to  find  Thor's  name  occurring  as  frequently  as  that 
of  Jesus  still  does  in  Mexico,  or  as  those  of  St.  Patrick  or  St.  Michael 
do  in  Ireland ;  yet  it  must  be  admitted  that  Thord,  Thorhall,  Thor- 
biorn,  Thorwald,  the  two  Thorsteins,  Thorgunna,  and  several  others, 
occurring  in  a  single  saga,  not  of  the  longest,  may  be  counted  exces- 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  8 1 

sive.  Some  of  these  are  borne  out  by  the  Landnamabok ;  others  are 
possibly  stop-gaps  of  later  invention  occurring  chiefly  in  the  least 
historical  parts  of  Eric  the  Red,  preceding  the  voyage  of  Thorfinn. 
As  already  indicated,  the  incantation  scene,  the  death  of  Thor- 
stein,  and  other  episodes,  though  good  Icelandic  folk-lore  and  excel- 
lent imaginative  literature,  are  by  no  means  to  be  treated  as  unalloyed 
fact.  There  seems  no  especial  reason  why  we  should  look  for  greater 
accuracy  as  to  names.  Some  of  those  not  supplied  by  independent 
and  trusted  authority  may  be  derived  from  sound  tradition;  but 
here  we  have  little  to  guide  us.  Their  accuracy  or  inaccuracy  does  not 
touch  the  general  course  of  the  voyage — any  more  than  errors  in  a 
roster  of  troops  would  disprove  the  battle  of  Saratoga. 

ii.— THE  STORY  OF  THE  FIRST  AMERICAN  MOTHER 

Gudrid  is  unmistakably  the  heroine  of  the  saga  and  fills  admirably 
a  good  part  of  its  Greenland  section — as  winning  and  nobly  gracious 
a  womanly  figure  as  may  readily  be  found  in  any  literature.  The 
greatest  of  feminine  explorers,  the  inspirer  of  the  earliest  attempt  to 
colonize  America  and  sharer  in  all  its  hardships,  and  the  mother  of 
the  first-born  white  American,  she  must  not  lightly  be  passed  by. 
Her  father  Thorbiorn  held  his  ground  after  Eric's  first  departure  and 
for  some  years  declined  his  invitations  to  Greenland.  But  Thorbiorn 
was  somehow  losing  ground  among  his. people;  and  felt  this  brought 
home  to  him  unbearably  when  a  disparaging  offer  of  marriage  for 
Gudrid  (as  he  considered  it)  was  urged  by  an  old  friend,  of  whom  he 
expected  kinder  things.  Apparently  she  felt  with  him ;  for  there 
seems  to  have  been  no  attempt  at  dissuasion,  even  when  he  called  their 
numerous  well-wishers  together  in  a  great  banquet,  made  a  speech 
about  his  honor  and,  lavishing  gifts  on  them  all,  announced  his 
intention  to  sell  out  and  emigrate.  Perhaps  she  may  have  shared 
his  adventurous  longing  for  the  chances  of  life  in  a  new  field  and 
found  no  resisting  magnet  in  any  of  her  numerous  Iceland  suitors, 
indicated  by  the  saga. 

All  that  remained  to  them  went  in  that  ship,  and  certain  friends 
joined  the  company,  to  their  cost  in  some  instances,  for  there  was 
sickness  and  death  on  the  way.  It  was  indeed  a  dreadful  voyage,  of 
prolonged  storm  and  unceasing  hardship  and  danger ;  but  they  won 
at  last  to  the  lowest  settled  peninsula  of  Greenland,  Heriolfsness, 
where  they  were  received  for  the  winter.  Remains  of  a  church  and 
other  vestiges  have  been  considered  to  mark  the  spot ;  with  no  abso- 


82  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

lute  certainty,  however.  Judging  by  other  sagas  1  dealing  with  the 
colony,  it  was  the  point  most  often  first  reached  by  all  newcomers, 
working  up  toward  Ericsfirth  or  Gardar,  and  sometimes  they  had 
to  remain  there  literally  for  a  season.  Presumably  it  was  also  the 
chief  point  of  departure  of  the  little  Greenland  fishing  fleet,  and  any 
disaster  to  it,  or  any  ill  success,  would  be  felt  there  most  quickly  and 
severely.  One  Thorkel  was  then  in  possession  at  Heriolfsness,  accord- 
ing to  the  saga. 

The  misfortunes  of  the  emigrants  were  not  yet  quite  ended.  The 
storms  which  had  quite  roughly  used  them  were  unfriendly  to  their 
entertainers  also,  for  most  fishermen  had  come  back  with  light  catches 
"  and  some  had  not  returned."  The  infant  Greenland  colony  suffered 
and  was  stinted.  As  the  winter  drew  on,  Thorkel  and  his  neighbors 
grew  anxious  and  depressed.  Pagan  still,  though  with  a  slippery  grasp 
on  the  old  belief,  they  decided  to  call  in  the  aid  of  a  seeress  or 
prophetess  having  occult  powers ;  who  shows  us  what  Scott's  Norna 
might  have  been  in  the  palmy  days  of  her  craft  and  in  cheerier  vigor 
of  life.  It  was  her  custom  to  visit  on  invitation  various  homes,  where 
the  people  gathered  in  the  hope  of  good  words  for  the  future  as  the 
spirits  might  give  her  light.  Thorbiorg  was  her  name  and  she  was  the 
youngest  of  nine  sisters,  all  with  this  gift  of  prophecy,  a  truly  formid- 
able array.  Says  the  saga2: 

When  she  came  in  the  evening,  with  the  man  who  had  been  sent  to  meet  her, 
she  was  clad  in  a  dark-blue  coat,  fastened  with  a  strap  and  set  with  stones 
quite  down  to  the  hem.  She  wore  glass  beads  around  her  neck,  and  upon 
her  head  a  black  lamb-skin  hood,  lined  with  white  cat-skin.  In  her  hands 
she  carried  a  staff,  upon  which  there  was  a  knob,  which  was  ornamented  with 
brass,  and  set  with  stones  up  about  the  knob.  Circling  her  waist  she  wore  a 
girdle  of  touch-wood,  and  attached  to  it  a  great  skin  pouch,  in  which  she  kept 

the  charms She  wore  upon  her  feet  shaggy  calf-skin  shoes,  with  long, 

tough  latchets,  upon  the  ends  of  which  there  were  large  brass  buttons.  She 
had  cat-skin  gloves  upon  her  hands,  which  were  white  inside  and  lined  with 
fur.  When  she  entered  all  of  the  folk  felt  it  to  be  their  duty  to  offer  becoming 
greetings. 

She  was  provided  as  usual  with  a  sort  of  throne  on  a  dais  and  with 
special  food,  a  leading  feature  being  the  hearts  of  every  animal  which 
could  be  procured  in  that  region.  She  would  not  prophesy  the  first 
night,  but  slept  in  the  house ;  and  the  next  day  had  a  circle  of 
participants  formed  before  her.  Then  she  called  for  some  woman  to 
sing  a  certain  "  spell "  of  subtle  power ;  but  there  was  none  to  be 
found  who  knew  the  song  until  Gudrid  owned  that  it  had  been  taught 


1E.  g.  The  Saga  of  Thorgisl.  Origines  Islandicae,  Vigfusson  and  Powell. 
2 A.  M.  Reeves:  The  Finding  of  Wineland  the  Good,  p.  33. 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  83 

her  in  Iceland  by  her  foster  mother ;  yet  it  was  of  such  nature  that 
she  must  not  sing  it  now,  being  a  Christian.  Thorbiorg  made  answer 
that  she  might  sing  it  nevertheless  to  aid  her  friends  and  be  no 
worse  woman  for  that ;  yet  left  the  matter  in  the  hands  of  Thorkel. 
Under  this  urgency  and  in  plain  contrast  to  her  father's  course,  for 
he  had  withdrawn  altogether,  Gudrid  admitted  at  last  that  she  felt 
bound  to  do  her  part  for  those  about  her ;  and  all,  as  they  listened  to 
her  singing,  felt  that  they  had  never  heard  the  mystical  song 
rendered  so  sweetly.  Thorbiorg  was  very  gracious  in  requital, 
thanking  her  for  luring  among  them  divers  spirits  which  most  often 
held  aloof  and  would  answer  nothing,  but  loved  such  a  treat.  With 
this  aid,  she  promised  improved  conditions  for  the  colony ;  and  for 
Gudrid,  abundant  prosperity  and  distinction,  ranging  beyond  her,  in 
Iceland,  to  her  lucky  descendants.  Then  she  departed  and  the 
scandalized  Thorbiorn  returned. 

Not  very  long  afterward  the  ice  broke  up  along  shore  with  the 
opening  spring  and  Thorbiorn  and  Gudrid  were  free  to  sail  to 
Ericsfirth  and  Brattahlid,  where  the  redoubtable  ruddy  Eric  met 
them  "  with  both  hands  "  of  welcome.  They  made  their  home  with 
him  until  another  could  be  provided  on  one  of  the  nesses  protruding 
like  that  of  Heriolf . 

That  autumn  Leif  appeared  among  them  with  his  inspiring  tale 
of  a  fruitful  Wineland  in  the  southwest  and  certain  valued  products 
to  make  his  words  good;  also  with  a  priest  and  teachers  to  Chris- 
tianize the  people  and  some  men  whom  he  had  rescued  from  a  wreck 
at  sea.  Seldom  have  so  many  welcome  sensations  been  presented  at 
once  to  a  people  hungry  for  tidings.  Except  a  minority,  including 
Eric  himself,  Thorhall  the  Huntsman,  and  Thorstein  the  Swarthy  of 
Lysufirth,  all  were  in  the  best  of  mood  to  receive  his  religious  message 
favorably  and  this  work  seems  fully  to  have  claimed  him.  His 
mother  was  his  first  convert  and  made  his  father  sufficiently  uncom- 
fortable. They  acclaimed  him  "  Leif  the  Lucky " ;  and  so  he  is 
commonly  called,  with  great  justice,  to  this  day. 

That  winter  there  was  a  great  buzz  and  stir.  Eric  held  out  in  his 
paganism  with  a  genial  scorn  for  novelties,  and  when  his  wife  with- 
drew her  countenance,  he  determined  to  withdraw  himself  bodily, 
and  to  accompany  his  son  Thorstein,  a  fine  specimen  of  a  man,  if  not 
over  successful,  on  a  voyage  of  exploration  to  this  tempting  new 
country  the  next  spring.  Eric  was  the  very  leader  for  the  voyage, 
having  so  thoroughly  done  the  work  along  300  miles  of  Greenland 
coast  and  through  the  most  forbidding  water  gates  to  the  deeply 


84  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

hidden  pleasing  dells  of  the  inner  firths.  But  he  was  thrown  while 
riding  to  embarkation,  with  some  disabling  injuries,  and  gave  up 
the  project,  averring  that  he  saw  it  was  not  for  him  to  discover  any 
more  land  than  the  region  where  he  stood. 

Thorstein  and  his  party,  deprived  of  that  wise  leadership,  went 
sailing  "  cheerily  out  of  Ericsfirth  in  high  spirits  over  their  plan." 
But  perhaps  they  started  too  far  east  or  held  a  course  too  much 
inclined  that  way ;  for  storms  drove  then  into  view  of  Iceland  and 
then  southward  until  "  the  birds  of  Ireland  "  met  them.  After  months 
of  being  "  driven  hither  and  thither  over  the  sea  "  they  returned  to 
Greenland  discomfited.  Yet  they  did  not  fare  ill.  Eric  greeted  them 
with  a  relieved  chuckle,  which  still  lingers  in  his  Stevenson-like 
words :  "  More  cheery  were  we  when  we  sailed  out  of  Ericsfirth ; 
yet  we  still  live ;  and  it  might  have  been  worse."  Gudrid  gave 
Thorstein  the  more  effective  solace  of  her  heart  and  hand ;  going 
with  him  soon  afterward  to  a  new  home  away  up  at  Lysufirth,  a 
little  below  the  present  Godthaab. 

An  epidemic  visited  their  little  community  that  winter  and  slew 
Thorstein  with  others.  When  all  seemed  over,  the  outworn  young 
bride-widow  went  at  last  to  lie  down,  but  was  awakened  awfully 
in  the  blackness  by  a  voice  announcing  that  her  dead  husband  had 
arisen  in  his  bed  and  called  for  her.  The  messenger  was  his  name- 
sake and  joint  owner,  Thorstein  the  Swarthy,  overwhelmed  for  the 
moment  by  that  most  hideous  of  Icelandic  imaginings,  a  belief  in 
the  evil  possession  or  soulless  revival  of  corpses,  making  these  bodies 
of  loved  ones  the  most  malignant  monsters.  The  blackness  of  it 
must  have  been  on  her  too,  and  far  more  dreadfully,  yet  he  saw  that 
she  would  go  notwithstanding  and  bade  her  cross  herself  as  one 
in  uncanny  peril.  She  declared  her  trust  in  God's  protective  good- 
ness and  went  in.  Then  the  awakening  dead  man,  as  they  held  him, 
greeted  her  lovingly,  telling  her  many  things  close  in  her  ear  which 
no  other  heard.  Soon,  too,  he  spoke  aloud  for  all  to  hear,  foretelling 
great  things  in  her  behalf,  as  had  the  prophetess,  charging  them  to 
take  certain  measures  with  a  dead  wizard's  body  for  ending  the 
pestilence  and  to  carry  himself  and  other  victims  to  Ericsfirth  for 
burial ;  and  in  especial  enjoined  her  not  to  marry  a  Greenlander. 
Now  this  significant  warning,  fitting  so  aptly  her  later  marriage  to 
an  Icelander,  who  promptly  went  with  her  to  Wineland,  may  be 
considered  a  mere  coincidence  or  a  real  cause  of  their  adventurous 
effort  or  a  touch  of  late/  art  maintaining  the  harmonies.  Perhaps 
the  first  suggestion  is  the  least  probable,  but  it  does  not  greatly  matter. 
Gudrid  sailed  back  with  her  dead,  a  grim  voyage  down  the  rocky 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  85 

and  icy  front  of  Greenland.  Soon  afterward  her  father  died  and 
she  went  to  live  with  her  father-in-law  Eric,  who  took  charge  for  her 
of  the  property  that  she  inherited  and  managed  it  well.  His  own 
death  was  not  so  very  far  away. 

That  year  two  ships  came  out  together  from  Iceland,  one  being 
from  the  eastern  side,  partly  owned  and  commanded  by  Biarni,  an 
historic  figure  ;  the  other  from  the  western  side,  belonging  to  Thorfinn 
Karlsefni,  an  experienced  navigator  and  man  of  affairs,  notable  for 
success  in  his  undertakings.  He  was  prosperous,  too,  and  able  to 
reinforce  the  supply  of  good  things  very  acceptably  for  the  Yule- 
time  entertainment  at  Brattahlid. 

Icelanders  were  particular  as  to  ancestry,  and  erudite  in  pedigree, 
although  some  of  the  ancestral  nicknames  of  their  records  have  a 
wild-Indian-like  sound  to  our  modern  ears.  Thord  Horsehead, 
Thord  the  Yeller,  Fiddle  Mord,  Biorn  Chestbutter  and  an  extravagant 
curiosity-shop  of  names  developed  from  noses,  breeches,  and  the  like, 
seem  more  at  home  in  the  tepees  of  Rain-in-the-Face  and  Sitting 
Bull  than  as  indicating  eminent  white  men  of  a  country  which 
produced  great  literature.  Omitting  such  uncouthness,  Thorfinn 
Karlsefni,  besides  notable  Danish  and  Norwegian  lines  of  descent, 
had  for  father,  Thord  the  son  of  Snorri,  who  was  the  son  of  Thord 
and  his  wife  Fridgerd,  daughter  of  Kiarval  (Carroll)  a  "king  of 
the  Irish  " — the  active  and  formidable  Cearbhall  of  Ossory  contem- 
porary with  Alfred  the  Great.1  We  have  already  taken  note  of 
Gudrid's  Gaelic  descent. 

It  is  a  curious  reflection  that  the  first  recorded  white  American  was 
partly  Celtic,  both  paternal  and  maternal.  Perhaps  it  would  be 
stranger  were  this  otherwise.  Iceland  was  Irish  and  otherwise 
Celtic  to  a  degree  rarely  understood.  Even  the  brother  of  the  first 
settler  brought  Irish  slaves  with  him,  who  revolted,  leaving  their 
name  to  the  Westmanna  (Westmen,  Irishmen)  islands,  where  they 
found  a  temporary  refuge.  Others  were  brought  in  afterward  at 
every  stage,  perhaps  the  most  distinguished  being  Melkorka,2  the 
kidnapped  daughter  of  another  Irish  "  King "  Kiartan  (perhaps 
Cartan) .  She  was  bought  by  an  Icelandic  chief  on  the  site  of  Bergen, 
Norway,  passed  for  dumb  through  all  the  earlier  years  of  her  humilia- 
tion, but  died  at  last,  respected,  in  her  home,  the  ruins  of  which  were 
shown  centuries  afterward  as  "  Melkorka-stead."  Her  grandson 


1  Eleanor  Hull :  Irish  Episodes  of  Icelandic  History.  Saga  Book  of  the  Viking 
Club,  vol.  3,  p.  337. 
2LaJcdaela  Saga.    Proctor's  transl.,  p.  27. 


86  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

Kiartan,  named  for  his  Irish  grandfather,  is  the  most  splendid  figure 
of  the  Laxdsela  Saga.  In  the  striking  hyperbole  of  the  ancient  narra- 
tive, the  Gudrun  who  compassed  his  death  in  resentful  passion  and 
jealousy  wept  tears  in  her  later  days  which  scalded  the  dead  out  of 
their  graves ;  for  she  had  "  done  worst  to  him  I  loved  best." 

Queen  Aud,  the  widow  of  the  Conqueror  of  Dublin,  brought 
adherents  from  eastern  Ireland,  also  from  Gaelic  Scotland,  her 
temporary  refuge — which  may  possibly  thus  have  given  the  most 
remarkable  and  least  Scandinavian  of  the  Eddaic  poems  to  Iceland, 
as  suggested  by  a  writer  in  the  Encyclopedia  Brittanica.  Vigfusson  x 
takes  the  same  view  of  their  general  origin  in  the  eastern  islands, 
but  without  ascribing  their  introduction  to  Queen  And,2  and  Bugge 
has  presented  the  hypothesis  again  slightly  modified.  Her  relatives 
and  followers  intermarried  with  most  of  the  great  Icelandic  families 
and  occupied  the  best  lands.  The  names  of  Icelandic  chieftains 
already  given  will  be  readily  recognized  as  Irish.  The  greatest  of 
the  sagas,  Nial's,  contains  a  glowing  tribute  to  King  Brian  Boru,  as 
well  as  the  most  vivid  account  in  existence  of  his  victory  at  Clontarf . 
The  sagas  are  thickly  sown  with  Irish  names  and  allusions ;  the 
Landnamabook  displays  them  in  almost  every  paragraph  of  a  long 
succession ;  and  one  is  tempted  to  think  that  by  the  opening  of  the 
eleventh  century  a  fifth  or  a  quarter  of  the  Icelandic  blood  in  all 
classes  must  have  been  Irish. 

Thorfinn  and  Gudrid  were  married  at  Brattahlid  after  the  Christ- 
mas festivities  following  the  autumn  or  late  summer  when  they  first 
met;  and  they  sailed  for  Wineland  the  next  spring — probably  that 
of  the  year  1003. 

Although  her  influence  seems  to  have  been  most  active  in  causing 
and  furthering  this  expedition,  she  is  seldom  mentioned  in  the  saga 
until  her  return  to  Iceland — once  as  giving  birth  to  Snorri,  again  as 
perhaps  left  at  Straumey,  while  her  husband  went  back  with  a  party 
to  Hop  for  three  months ;  but  a  woman's  part  in  such  achievements 
could  not  often  be  spectacular  nor  strike  a  saga-man  as  demanding 
record.  The  Flateybook  saga  adds  a  picture  of  Gudrid  beside  her 
infant's  cradle  in  her  palisaded  Wineland  home,  entertaining  a 
dubious  big-eyed  visitor,  who  bore  her  own  name  and  announced 
approaching  danger,  but  was  invisible  to  all  other  eyes.  The  Indiai. 
attack  followed  immediately.  Reeves's  index  calls  this  visitor  "  Gud- 

1  G.  Vigfusson:  Prolegomena  of  the  Sturlunga  Saga,  p.  193. 
2S.  Bugge:    The  Home  of  the  Eddie  Poems.    Schofield's  transl.,  Introduc- 
tion, p.  xxiii. 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  87 

rid  the  Skraeling  woman  " ;  but  is  contradicted  by  the  items  of  per- 
sonal appearance  which  are  given.  Some  have  suggested  a  white 
woman  in  Wineland  before  these  Norse  visitors  and  certainly  she  is 
described  as  having  blonde  hair  and  Icelandic  apparel,  but  the  prodi- 
gious eyes  and  invisibility  seem  rather  to  mark  a  non-human  messen- 
ger of  warning,  proper  to  the  fancy  of  the  time.  We  are  not  told, 
however,  that  the  visitation  helped  Gudrid  or  her  companions  in  any 
way,  for  the  warning  came  too  late ;  so  perhaps  the  purpose,  as  con- 
ceived by  the  saga-writer,  was  merely  to  alarm,  either  malignantly  or 
as  testing  her  constancy  of  mind.  Whether  there  were  any  truth  in 
this  story  or  not,  the  attack  seems  to  have  been  real,  and  one  of  the 
many  ordeals  through  which  Gudrid  had  to  bring  her  little  son.  She 
saw  him  grow  to  manhood  in  Iceland,  worthily  filling  his  father's 
place  after  Thorfinn  died. 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  little  Snorri  Thorfinnson,  probably  born  on 
or  near  Passamaquoddy  Bay,  is  no  vanishing  figure  of  history,  like 
pretty  Virginia  Dare,  who  came  so  much  later  to  the  lost  colony  of 
Roanoke,  and  has  left  us  only  the  pathetic  mystery  of  her  fate. 
His  descendants  have  been  numerous  in  all  succeeding  centuries, 
including  bishops,  notable  scholars,  and  other  eminent  men. 

Gudrid's  later  career  has  been  touched  upon.  It  seems  that  she 
made  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome  and  also  lived  for  a  time  the  life  of  a 
religious  recluse,  both  according  to  the  tenets  and  customs  of  that 
period.  She  was  widely  known  also  for  the  aid  she  gave  to  churches, 
convents,  and  charities.  At  every  stage  of  her  life  we  find  her  a 
woman  of  great  helpfulness,  power  of  attraction,  force  of  character, 
and  upright,  kindly,  unsparing  effort.  Let  us  trust  that  this  picture 
is  as  true  to  historic  fact  as  to  the  saga-writer's  ideal  of  a  noble 
feminine  nature. 

12.— LEIF  AND  HIS  VOYAGES 

Tradition  gives  us  likewise  the  year  1000  for  Leif's  *  unintended 
exploit,  the  finding  of  Wineland.  The  time  is  fixed  also  by  the  simul- 
taneous conversion  of  Iceland  in  that  memorable  year  of  "  the  change 
of  faith."  He  stands  a  "  wise  and  stately  "  figure  of  history,  says 
Dr.  Fiske,  but  his  earlier  adventures  were  neither  exalted  nor 
generous. 

Leif  sailed  from  Greenland  for  Norway,  perhaps  early  in  999, 
by  the  direct  route,  skipping  Iceland — an  unprecedented  attempt, 

1  G.  Storm  :  Studies  on  the  Vineland  Voyages.    Memoires  Societe  Royale  des 
Antiquaires  du  Nord.  1888. 


88  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

which  ended  for  the  while  in  his  being  driven  on  the  Hebrides.  He 
remained  there  a  considerable  time  awaiting  fair  winds,  and  "  became 
enamored  of  a  certain  woman  named  Thorgunna,"  of  rare  intel- 
ligence. When  Leif  was  preparing  to  depart  Thorgunna  asked  to  be 
permitted  to  accompany  him. 

Leif  enquired  if  she  had  in  this  the  approval  of  her  kinsman.  She  replied 
that  she  did  not  care  for  it.  Leif  responded  that  he  did  not  deem  it  the  part 
of  wisdom  to  abduct  so  high-born  a  woman  in  a  strange  country,  "  and  we  so 
few  in  number."  "  It  is  by  no  means  certain  that  thou  shalt  find  this  to  be  the 
better  decision  "  said  Thorgunna.  "  I  shall  put  it  to  the  proof,  notwithstand- 
ing," said  Leif.  [Then  she  notified  him  of  their  expected  child,  adding:] 
"  And  though  thou  give  this  no  heed,  yet  will  I  rear  the  boy,  and  send  him  to 
thee  in  Greenland,  when  he  shall  be  fit  to  take  his  place  with  other  men.  And 
I  foresee  that  thou  wilt  get  as  much  profit  from  this  son  as  is  thy  due  from 
this  our  parting ;  moreover,  I  mean  to  come  to  Greenland  myself  before  the 
end  comes."  Leif  gave  her  a  gold  finger-ring,  a  Greenland  wadmal  mantle 
and  a  belt  of  walrus-tusk.  This  boy  came  to  Greenland,  and  was  called  Thor- 
gils. Leif  acknowledged  his  paternity,  and  some  men  will  have  it  that  this 
Thorgils  came  to  Iceland  in  the  summer  before  the  Froda-wonder.  However, 
this  Thorgils  was  afterwards  in  Greenland,  and  there  seemed  to  be  something 
not  altogether  natural  about  him  before  the  end  came.  Leif  and  his  com- 
panions sailed  away  from  the  Hebrides,  and  arrived  in  Norway  in  the  autumn. 

A  Thorgunna,  lately  arrived  in  Iceland,  is  intimately  connected 
with  the  portents  of  Prodis- water  in  the  Eyrbyggja  Saga — prodigies 
and  hauntings  charged  to  her  occult  power  after  death,  and  very 
deeply  impressing  the  popular  imagination. 

Of  this  sorry  little  romance  or  incidental  tragedy  little  need  be 
said.  But  we  get  a  glimmering  view  of  the  harrowed  soul  of  the 
forsaken  woman,  which  was  conceived  of  as  inflicting  prodigious 
punishment  even  after  death. 

However,  having  successfully  left  her  out  of  the  main  current 
of  his  story,  "  Leif  went  to  the  court  of  King  Olaf  Tryggvason,  who 
could  see  that  Leif  was  a  man  of  great  accomplishments  "  and 
promptly  converted  him  into  a  zealous  Christian  (Leif  did  not,  how- 
ever, make  amends)  and  at  last  committed  to  him  the  conversion  of 
the  other  Greenlanders,  at  the  same  time  that  he  sent  the  missionary 
Gizur  on  that  errand  to  Iceland. 

In  the  following  very  brief  passage  we  have  our  only  account 
of  his  Wineland  discovery,  except  the  notices  already  quoted  and 
it  is  most  natural  that  inquirers  should  direct  all  side  lights  on 
every  word  of  it,  eager  to  extract  the  full  meaning.  Only  we  should 
beware  of  a  strained  ingenuity,  the  temptation  to  perverse  original 
paradox,  or  a  too  narrow  and  specialized  view : 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  89 

Leif  put  to  sea  when  his  ship  was  ready  for  the  voyage.  For  a  long  time  he 
was  tossed  about  upon  the  ocean,  and  came  upon  lands  of  which  he  had 
previously  no  knowledge.  There  were  self-sown  wheat-fields  and  vines  growing 
there.  There  were  also  those  trees  which  are  called  "  mausur,"  and  of  all  these 
they  took  specimens.  Some  of  the  timbers  were  so  large  that  they  were  used 
in  building.  Leif  found  men  upon  a  wreck,  and  took  them  home  with  him,  and 
procured  quarters  for  them  all  during  the  winter.  In  this  wise  he  showed 
his  nobleness  and  goodness,  since  he  introduced  Christianity  into  the  country, 
and  saved  the  men  from  the  wreck;  and  he  was  called  Leif  the  Lucky  ever 
after.  Leif  landed  in  Ericsfirth  and  then  went  home  to  Brattahlid ;  he  was  well 
received  by  everyone.  He  soon  proclaimed  Christianity  through  the  land,  and 
the  Catholic  faith,  and  announced  King  Olaf  Tryggvason's  messages  to  the 
people,  telling  them  how  much  excellence  and  how  great  glory  accompanied 
the  faith. 

Leif  was  a  man  with  a  mission  now,  and  it  held  him  tightly  to  the 
Greenland  colony,  which  he  probably  never  left  again.  If  he  built 
any  house  in  Wineland,  it  must  have  been  during  the  summer,  when 
he  was  inspecting  those  "  lands  "  with  no  thought  of  remaining, 
but  in  the  assurance  of  more  engrossing  work  elsewhere  for  the 
winter.  In  the  warm  months  the  ship  itself  or  any  temporary  shelter 
would  have  sufficed,  and  if  he  had  forgotten  his  duty  as  a  vehicle  of 
the  faith  in  any  futile  burst  of  architecture,  be  sure  the  priest,  ever 
at  handy  would  have  reminded  him.  Presumably  he  did  not  build. 

The  natural  meaning  of  "  lands  "  would  indicate  several  points  of 
observation  along  the  sea  front;  which  seems  likely  with  most  of 
the  summer  ahead  for  gratifying  a  proper  curiosity.  Obviously  he 
must  have  approached  some  part  of  the  coast  and  then  followed  it 
one  way  or  the  other.  It  may  be  instructive  to  see  what  later  navi- 
gators did  on  the  same  shore  when  similarly  situated.  Cabot  and 
Hudson1  with  a  hundred  years  and  more  between  them,  took  the 
downward  course  perhaps  as  far  as  North  Carolina,  probably  tempted 
by  southern  conditions,  which  were  progressively  more  genial,  then 
turned  about  northward  and  in  the  end  went  home.  Thorfinn 
Karlsefni  did  the  same,  but  apparently  did  not  reach  so  low  a  latitude. 
We  may  reasonably  conjecture  that  Leif  turned  southward,  too.  This 
supposition  is  fortified  by  the  insistence  of  early  geographers  on  a 
probable  connection  between  Wineland  and  Africa ;  by  Thorfinn's  evi- 
dent expectation  of  warmth  and  fertility;  by  the  disappointment  of 
his  party  when  the  facts  of  Straumey  fell  short  of  the  imagined 
standard ;  by  the  adjective  "  Good "  traditionally  applied  to  the 
country,  perhaps  with  the  significance  of  blessed  or  supernally  fortu- 


'Hakluyt:   Principal  Voyages  (1904),  vol.  7,  pp.  152,  154.    Also  Nansen  :    Tn 
Northern  Mists;  taking  John  Cabot  on  toward  Cape  Cod. 


9O  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL. 

nate,  and  by  the  abundant  grapes  fit  for  wine,  of  which  the  Danisl 
king  told  Adam  of  Bremen. 

Now  it  becomes  important  to  understand  what  manner  of  men 
were  these  enthusiastic  observers  of  the  vines  and  grapes.  First, 
we  have  Leif  himself,  with  abundant  personal  experience  in  all  the 
northern  countries  at  least,  including  intercourse  with  a  king  and  his 
court,  giving  him  a  range  of  wider  knowledge.  Then  the  Icelanders 
and  Greenlanders  of  his  crew,  some  of  whom  would  surely  have 
traded,  wandered,  or  served  in  arms  in  southern  Europe.  Theirs  was 
the  race  that  penetrated  the  Mediterranean  to  Lucca  in  the  middle  of 
the  fifteenth  century ;  that  had  overrun  the  vineyards  of  France  and 
looted  its  wine-making  cities ;  that  later  established  itself  as  rulers 
in  the  two  Sicilies  and  conquered  the  Canary  Islands  for  Spain; 
the  race  that  had  already  supplied  soldiers  and  sailors  to  most 
countries  of  Europe.  Miklegard  (Constantinople)  "the  great  city," 
the  foremost  center  of  the  world's  civilization  for  three  centuries 
thereafter,  was  more  familiar  to  their  minds  than  it  is  to  ours,  and  in 
a  little  time  their  men-at-arms  were  to  be  the  palace-guards  of  its 
emperors.  Besides  these,  we  must  remember  the  priest  and  teachers, 
who  joined  him  in  Norway  and  who  were  presumably  not  Icelandic 
but  continental  European  of  some  kind.  Further  along  in  the  saga, 
we  find  other  outland  ingredients,  for : 

It  was  when  Leif  was  with  King  Olaf  Tryggvason,  and  he  made  him  pro- 
claim Christianity  to  Greenland,  that  the  king  gave  him  two  Gaels;  the  man's 
name  was  Haki,  and  the  woman's  Haekia.  The  king  advised  Leif  to  have 
recourse  to  these  people,  if  he  should  stand  in  need  of  fleetness,  for  they  were 

swifter  than  deer They  were   clad  in   a  garment,  which  they  called 

"  kiafal,"  which  was  so  fashioned,  that  it  had  a  hood  at  the  top,,  was  open  at 
the  sides,  was  sleeveless,  and  was  fastened  between  the  legs  with  buttons  and 
loops,  while  elsewhere  they  were  naked. 

This  affidavit-like  verbal  photography  and  eye  for  costume  mark 
the  description  as  by  the  hand  that  drew  Thorbiorg,  yet  it  was 
probably  only  the  hand  of  a  romancer.  They  were  afterward  set 
to  find  the  grapes  and  wheat  for  Karlsefni  in  all  their  semi-nude 
picturesqueness.  I  have  elsewhere  repeatedly  indicated  a  belief  that 
this  story  as  presented  is  worse  than  apocryphal. 

No  doubt  both  Tyrker  of  the  Flatey  saga  and  this  Haki  have  an 
aggressively  mythical  air.  The  Wineland  products  no  doubt  im- 
pressed popular  fancy  and  may  have  seemed  to  call  for  special 
distinction  in  the  matter  of  their  finding ;  but  whether  both  or  either 
of  these  stories  be  accurate,  or  wholly  invented,  or  relate  to  matters 
of  fact  ill  understood,  they  reveal  a  general  knowledge  that  these  early 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA  -  BABCOCK  QI 

crews  were  not  all  of  one  nation,  and  a  sense  that  the  discovery  of 
grapes  in  particular  would  probably  be  made  by  foreigners  among 
them. 

Professor  Fernald  x  suggests  that  wild  currants  or  more  probably 
rock-cranberries  and  not  grapes  were  found,  awakening  the  wide- 
spread and  long  continued  interest  already  stated.  In  support  of 
this  hypothesis,  he  cites  Linnaeus,  a  better  authority  on  botany  than 
on  vintages  as  holding  "  currant-wine  "  equal  to  the  real  article,  if 
only  you  add  a  little  sugar.  Prof.  Fernald  says  that  rock-cranberries 
are  a  great  treat  to  the  birds  of  Labrador.  He  believes  that  the 
Norsemen,  coming  from  Greenland,  were  delighted  with  their  pro- 
fusion and  went  no  farther.  Now  I  do  not  know  what  sort  of  wine 
may  be  made  from  cranberries,  but  the  prospect  is  unpleasing.  It  is 
true  enough  that  beverages  with  hyphenated  names  are  evolved  in 
divers  rural  districts  and  old  fashioned  households  from  currants, 
elderberries,  blackberries,  wild  cherries  and  the  like;  and  some 
people  have  experienced  them.  Every  such  name,  for  example 
gooseberry-wine,  testifies  to  the  pre-existence  of  real  wine  as  a 
standard,  and  to  the  fact  of  feeble  imitation.  Are  these  the  fruits 
from  which  the  stout  Danish  king  declared  "  the  best  of  wine  "  could 
be  made?  Can  we  imagine  these  Icelandic  broadswordsmen  in 
armor  growing  ecstatic  over  the  prospect  of  berry  decoctions? 
Would  it  have  been  possible,  even  in  later  and  milder  days,  to  have 
sustained  on  them  the  "  true  vinous  enthusiasm  "  which  Dr.  Saints- 
bury  celebrates  and  which  roared  through  "  the  tumultuous  choruses 
of  Headlong  Hall  "  ?  Professor  Fernald  observes  the  phenomenon 
too  much  through  the  spectacles  of  the  dry-leaf  collector  and  speci- 
men man,  omitting  the  greater  part  of  eleventh  century  Norse  human 
nature.  These  men  of  Greenland  and  Iceland  were  after  intoxicants. 
Furthermore,  the  Ericsfirth  region  was  a  berry-country,  no  less  than 
Labrador.  Even  250  miles  farther  up  the  coast,  Davis  z  found  red- 
currants  growing  wild  near  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
Dr.  Rink  3  attests  the  great  practical  value  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
crowberry-crop  in  southern  Greenland  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  He  says  that  the  cowberries  though  plentiful  are  not  eaten.  It 
it  not  at  all  believable  that  men  should  sail  out  of  one  profusion  of 
small  fruit  into  another,4  like  in  kind,  but  inferior  and  despised  at 
home,  and  trumpet  their  experience  abroad  as  something  wonderful. 


Plants  of  Wineland.    Rhodora,  Feb.  1910. 
2  The  Voyages  and  Works  of  John  Davis,  edited  by  A.  H.  Markham,  1880. 
3H.  J.  Rink:  Danish  Greenland,  pp.  86,  88. 

4  Nansen,  in  stating  this,  seems  to  have  confused  crowberries  with  cowberries, 
but  his  argument  is  sound. 
7 


92  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

Nor  do  we  find  to-day  any  tendency  among  our  people  to  confound 
berries  with  fox-grapes  in  fact  or  in  name.  The  mere  difference 
in  size  of  fruit  surely  ought  to  be  safeguard  enough,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  really  preposterous  contrast  between  the  plants  in  the  same 
regard.  This  grape  is  larger  than  most  of  the  cultivated  ones  on 
the  market,  whereas  currants  and  cowberries  are  but  little  things. 
The  wild  grape-vines  will  sometimes  have  a  stem  diameter  of  six 
inches  and  often  run  to  the  upper  boughs  of  tall  trees  or  overspread 
those  of  somewhat  lesser  growth  with  a  dense  canopy  of  verdure ;  but 
we  all  know  what  currant-bushes  are,  and  the  other  suggested  com- 
petitors hardly  equal  their  size.  Would  the  old  Norsemen  have  felt 
any  close  analogy  between  a  fruit  as  big  as  a  pea,  growing  on  a  small 
shrub  and  another  as  large  as  a  pigeon's  egg,  hanging  from  a 
conspicuous  feature  of  the  woodlands?  Their  descendants  among 
us  do  not  seem  to  observe  such  matters  differently  from  other  people. 

Among  Dr.  Storm's  notes  there  is  one  curious  instance  of  a 
Nova  Scotian,  who  referred  .to  certain  grapes  as  "  wine-berries." 
I  take  this  to  relate  to  our  common  tart  squirrel-grape,  about  the 
size  of  a  Zante-currant  and  barely  edible  when  quite  ripe,  though 
chiefly  useful  for  jelly,  and  presumably  capable  of  yielding  a  berry- 
wine  or  other  dubious  beverage.  Dr.  Storm's  witnesses  probably 
establish  the  occasional  occurrence  of  this  little  wild  grape  in  Nova 
Scotia  a  few  years  ago,  if  not  now;  but  no  doubt  Prof.  Fernald  is 
right  in  holding  that  it  cannot  have  been  plentiful.  Yet,  however 
abundant,  it  would  be  irrelevant.  Not  such  were  the  bountiful 
grapes  which  King  Sweyn  commended  to  Adam  of  Bremen,  which 
the  sagas  celebrated,  and  which  Leif  Ericsson  first  found. 

The  larger  wild  grapes,  it  appears,  are  divided  into  several  species 
of  varying  habitat  in  New  England,  nowhere  passing  the  Bay  of 
Fundy.  Gomez  J  may  have  found  them  on  the  Penobscot  about  1525, 
as  Champlain  heard  of  them  in  1605  on  the  St.  John,  where  they 
have  been  made  into  wine  in  recent  years,2  and  reported  them  plentiful 
near  Saco.  Lescarbot,3  who  was  with  him,  corroborates  this,  declar- 
ing that  they  grew  as  large  as  plums  at  Richmond  Island ;  but  he 
relates  a  projected  experiment  of  their  apothecary  to  introduce  grape 


1  S.  E.  Dawson :  The  St.  Lawrence,  its  Basin,  p.  102. 

'2  Haliburton  :  A  Search  for  Lost  Colonies.    Pop.  Sci.  Mo.,  vol.  26,  p.  40. 

3  M.  Lescarbot :  Nova  Francia.  Erondelle's  transl.,  pp.  93,  101.  I  have  mis- 
taken one  of  our  small  wild  plums  for  such  a  grape,  the  tree  and  vine  being 
neighbors. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  93 

vines  from  southern  New  England  and  plant  them  at  Port  Royal, 
Nova  Scotia,  where  they  did  not  grow.1 

Strachey 2  celebrated  these  grapes  in  the  same  vein  as  the  King  of 
Denmark,  but  more  voluminously,  during  the  time  of  Powhatan's 
confederacy,  "  the  Queen  of  Portobaco/'  "  the  Emperor  of  the 
Nanticokes  "  and  "  the  laughing  King  of  Accomac."  He  writes : 

It  would  surely  raise  a  well-stayed  judgment  into  wonder  (as  Sir  Thomas 
Dale  hath  writ  sometime  unto  his  majesty's  counsel  here  for  Virginia)  to 
behold  the  goodly  vines  burthening  every  neighbor  bush  and  climbing  the  tops 
of  highest  trees  and  these  full  of  clusters  of  grapes  in  their  kind,  however 
draped  and  shaded  soever  from  the  sun  and  though  never  pruned  nor  manured. 
I  dare  say  it  that  we  have  eaten  there  as  full  and  luscious  a  grape  as  in  the 
villages  between  Paris  and  Amiens  and  have  drunk  often  of  the  rath  wine  which 
Dr.  Bohune  and  other  of  our  people  have  made  full  as  good  as  your  French 
British  wines.  Twenty  gallons  at  one  time  have  sometimes  been  made,  without 
any  other  help  than  crushing  the  grapes  in  the  hand,  which  letting  to  settle  five 
or  six  days  hath  in  the  drawing  forth  proved  strong  and  heady. 

This  would  seem  to  dispose  of  Dr.  Nansen's  suggestion  that  Leif 
and  others  had  neither  appliances  nor  leisure  for  wine-making. 

Possibly,  like  the  Norsemen,  the  Virginians  overrated  this  vintage. 
It  is  more  to  the  purpose  to  note  the  effect  of  these  wine-yielding 
wild-grapes  on  the  minds  of  early  explorers  and  colonizers  ;  and  that, 
with  so  many  centuries  between  them,  both  apply  the  same  praise 
to  the  same  thing.  "  Strong  and  heady  "  no  doubt  had  much  to  do 
with  the  excellence  ascribed. 

These  grapes  are  especially  important  to  our  present  research,  not 
only  because  they  gave  North  America  its  first  name  (unless  we 
except  the  more  dubious  Great  Ireland)  but  because  they  are  our 
best  clew  to  one  of  the  "  lands  "  that  Leif  discovered.  Being  first 
or  last  where  fox  grapes  were  abundant,  he  must  have  reached 
southern  New  England  at  least,  more  likely  New  Jersey,  or  even  the 
regions  about  the  Chesapeake.  Remembering  Cabot  and  Hudson 


'Leifs  crew,  like  our  people  of  the  District  of  Columbia  and  neighboring 
states,  doubtless  did  not  discriminate,  except  between  the  small  berry-like  kind 
(which  would  not  be  highly  valued  where  better  berries  were  plentiful) 
and  the  large  kind,  good  for  table-fruit  and  for  wine.  We  call  the  latter 
"fox  grapes."  I  have  picked  and  eaten  them  on  a  low  island  of  the  Anacostia 
near  Benning's  bridge,  and  only  a  few  feet  from  a  great  bed  of  wild  rice,  a 
spot  probably  within  the  limits  of  Washington  City.  More  commonly  they 
occur  on  our  hills.  A  few  years  ago  a  great  number  were  gathered  near  the 
Conduit  Road  for  our  household  use.  Civilization  clears  them  away;  yet  I 
have  found  them,  both  green  and  ripe,  near  the  lower  reservoir  in  a  dense 
thicket  on  two  occasions  in  August,  1911. 

2W.  Strachey:  The  Historic  of  Travaile  into  Virginia,  p.  120. 


94  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

and  the  reference  to  "  Africa/'  my  own  probable  limit  for  him  would 
be  more  southerly  even  than  Norfolk,  though  it  is  all  conjecture. 
Juul  Dieserud  was  perhaps  the  first  writer  to  point  out  the  probability 
that  Leif  had  gone  farther  south  than  Thorfinn,  though  Moulton's 
History  of  New  York  had  carried  Thorvald  to  Manhattan  or  beyond 
it.  The  account  of  the  shore  westward  beyond  Leif's-booths  in  the 
Thorvald  section  of  the  Flateybook  saga  undoubtedly  suggests  the 
outer  face  of  Long  Island,  N.  Y.,  or  some  like  low  strand — possibly 
a  reminiscence  of  Leif's  earlier  cursory  visit  to  the  coast. 

Of  course  we  must  not  forget  that  the  range  of  a  plant  may  change 
with  time,  a  lowering  or  rising  of  the  average  temperature  being 
an  important  factor  in  determining  this.  Indeed,  in  the  case  of  the 
squirrel-grape  a  withdrawal  from  Nova  Scotia  seems  to  have  really 
occurred  within  a  hundred  years.  But  the  disappearance  may  be 
due  to  their  sparseness  and  to  human  interference  in  clearing  ground, 
rather  than  to  a  very  few  feet  of  crustal  uplift  or  other  change  in 
conditions.  During  the  previous  800  years,  man  would  not  be  a 
factor,  for  the  Indians  of  the  region  were  not  agricultural  nor  likely 
to  work,  except  in  fishing  and  hunting,  beyond  the  absolute  needs 
of  their  canoes  and  camp-fires.  The  seasons,  too,  during  the  last 
300  years  appear  pretty  constant  in  quality,  except  where  modified  a 
little  by  shearing  off  the  forests.  The  few  weather  hints  of  the 
earlier  Norse  sagas  tell  the  same  story  of  relative  temperature  north 
and  south,  although  the  upper  border  of  the  grape-belt  may  have 
receded  a  little. 

One  might  fancy  that  the  increasing  severity  in  Greenland's 
climate,  which  Ivar  Bardsen  noted  about  midway  between  our  time 
and  that  of  Eric  the  Red  (though  Dr.  Nansen  doubts  it) ,  would  neces- 
sarily be  repeated  along  our  coast  from  Labrador  to  Cape  Ann,  by 
reason  of  the  augmented  volume  and  coldness  of  the  southward- 
running  Arctic  current.  But  the  problem  is  not  so  simple,  for  a  mild 
Greenland  season  has  been  found  to  make  a  chill  one  in  Labrador, 
as  Dr.  Fiske *  has  noted,  by  loosening  a  greater  mass  of  ice  from  its 
moorings  to  float  southward.  On  the  whole,  we  may  more  safely 
assume  approximately  the  same  climate  as  at  present  and  the  same 
area  of  abundance  for  fox-grapes  in  the  year  1000  until  we  have  some 
proof  of  change. 

The  "wild  wheat "  of  the  saga  will  be  dealt  with  more  fully  in 
a  later  chapter.  If  construed  as  "strand  oats,"  for  example  by 
Prof.  Fernald,  it  clearly  contradicts  the  statements  about  grapes 


The  Discovery  of  America. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  95 

and  vines  and  excellent  wine,  since  it  confines  us  to  northern  regions 
which  they  cannot  reach.  If  it  means  Zea  mays,  our  ordinary  "  corn," 
as  believed  by  Rafn  and  Fiske,  it  can  add  nothing,  for  the  maize 
limits  and  fox  grape  limits  were  nearly  identical  on  the  northeast,  and 
both  extended  southward  far  beyond  any  probable  voyage  of  Leif .  If, 
as  appears  most  likely,  wild  rice  (Zizania  aquatica)  be  intended,  our 
case  for  local  identification  is  only  a  little  better.  This  rice  grows 
plentifully  all  the  way  from  Texas  to  the  coast  mountains  of  Maine  ; 
it  is  so  plentiful  in  Maryland  as  to  be  the  dominant  feature  of  river 
landscape  in  the  tidewater  region ;  it  thrives  near  Boston  and  Provi- 
dence. Indeed,  Cartier's  attention  in  1535  was  attracted  to  it  (as  ble 
sauvage)  on  the  southern  shore  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  As 
already  stated  he  says  it  is  like  rye,  and  plainly  distinguishes  between 
it  and  maize,  which  he  first  saw  soon  afterward.  Leif  might  have 
found  wild  rice  at  intervals  anywhere  below  the  Kennebec. 

The  statement  that  some  of  the  timbers  were  large  enough  to  be 
used  for  building  may  seem  to  imply  a  lightly  timbered  region,  but 
Leif  merely  took  "  specimens,"  and  the  word  "  some "  doubtless 
relates  to  this  little  miscellaneous  collection  and  not  to  the  general 
forestry  of  Wineland  or  Markland.  The  use  referred  to  would  prob- 
ably be  at  Brattahlid,  or  at  least  under  the  direction  of  Eric,1  whose 
ideas  on  such  subjects  were  massive,  as  we  gather  from  the  hundred- 
cubic-feet  dimensions  of  his  house-wall  stones.  Growing  trees  of  any 
reasonable  bulk  and  height  might  readily  have  been  found  within  the 
limits  of  the  present  Maritime  Provinces ;  and  Newfoundland  must 
have  been  mainly  a  forest,  as  were  most  of  the  seaboard  regions  below. 

There  has  been  much  discussion  over  the  puzzling  "  mausur  wood." 
Rafn  thought  it  especially  indicated  "  bird's-eye  maple,"  found  on 
Marthas  Vineyard  and  elsewhere.  This  is  probably  our  most  beauti- 
ful native  wood,  having  a  delicate  wavy  and  dotted  grain.  Prof. 
Fernald  in  his  Rhodora  article  identifies  mausur  positively  with 
"  canoe  birch."  In  Scandinavia  some  kind  of  birch  must  have  been 
most  often  the  source  of  this  ornamental  carving  wood,  for  birches 
are  the  most  plentiful  hardwood  trees  of  northern  countries.  Yet 
on  Grand  Manan,  where  the  white  birch  is  everywhere  in  evidence, 
the  comparatively  few  maples  would  more  readily  yield  a  large 
specimen ;  and  knotty  parts  are  to  be  found  in  either.  That  "  a 
veined  wood,"  irrespective  of  species,  is  the  real  meaning  appears  from 
the  following  words  of  said  article :  "  Similar  growths  have  sometimes 
been  found  on  the  maple,  horse-chestnut,  cherry  and  aspen,  and  have 

1  H.  J.  Rink  :  Danish  Greenland.    Stated  as  6  feet  by  4  and  "of  like  thickness." 


g6  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

sometimes  been  put  to  similar  use."  It  is  hard  to  believe  that  any 
birch,  however  contorted  in  grain,  can  equal  bird's-eye  maple ;  but 
no  doubt  these  practical  lovers  of  beautiful  things  were  in  no  way 
concerned  as  to  whether  it  were  one  or  the  other,  provided  it  answered 
their  requirements.  They  would  classify  by  ornamental  effect,  and 
name  it  according  to  their  classifying.  But  even  if  we  were  to  accept 
canoe  birch  as  the  true  and  only  "  mausur,"  Leif  might  still  have 
obtained  it  almost  anywhere  from  Long  Island  to  Nova  Scotia. 
Besides,  we  do  not  know  that  he  cut  his  prize  in  the  same  "  land  " 
where  he  gathered  grapes.  He  visited  "  lands  "  and  brought  home 
these  specimens ;  that  is  all. 

We  have  no  further  clue.  He  touched  a  country  of  warmth  and 
plenty,  where  wild  fox-grapes  abounded.  The  other  products  which 
he  found  were  proper  to  that  territory,  although  they  may  have 
been  picked  up  beyond  it.  From  allusions  later  in  the  saga,  and 
statements  elsewhere,  we  learn  that  he  named  this  region  Wineland, 
but  not  necessarily  with  any  reference  to  goodness  or  blessedness 
except  so  far  as  he  may  have  held  wine  to  be  good  and  blest. 

Dr.  Nansen  discredits  this  achievement  of  Leif,  though  accepting 
the  saga's  previous  statement  that  he  sailed  from  Greenland  directly 
to  the  Hebrides  and  Norway,  and  applauding  it  as  among  the  greatest 
of  nautical  exploits.  But  surely  this  bold  navigator  would  be  the 
very  man  to  attempt  a  repetition  of  the  feat,  sailing  the  other  way ; 
and  what  could  be  more  natural  than  his  storm-driven  landfall  on  an 
unexpected  shore?  We  do  not  need  to  go  into  mythology  or  folk- 
tales for  precedents ;  such  incidents  are  there  also  because  they  first 
happened  to  men  in  reality ;  and  they  keep  on  happening.  When  that 
which  began  as  fact  occurs  as  fact  again,  it  cannot  reasonably  be 
impeached  by  any  intervening  or  parallel  play  of  fancy. 

Leif  s  items  are  meager,  but  so  far  as  they  go  they  are  absolutely 
corroborative.  Evidently  someone  visited  our  coast  somewhere 
between  Casco  Bay  and  the  Chesapeake,  touching  also  at  Newfound- 
land and  Labrador.  Whether  the  voyager  were  Leif,  or  Biarni,  or 
another  may  not  be  practically  important,  but  Leif  is  named  as 
discoverer  in  the  best  accredited  saga,  and  we  may  as  well  adhere 
to  him  until  a  more  plausible  candidate  is  found. 

i3._WITH  THORFINN  AND  GUDRID  TO  THE  BAY 

OF  FUNDY 

A  glance  at  a  map  of  these  regions  shows  two  methods  of  approach 
to  mainland  America  from  southern  Greenland — the  direct  route  over 
sea  and  the  slow  but  nearly  safe  and  sure  northwestern  journey  along 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  97 

the  Greenland  coast  to  the  region  where  the  shores  bend  toward  each 
other  near  Davis  Strait ;  followed  by  a  dash  southward  or  southwest- 
ward.  The  former  aims  immediately  at  habitable  regions  and  pleasant 
surroundings ;  it  is  shorter  and  naturally  tempted  men ;  but  it  tempted 
the  rage  of  the  Atlantic  also,  which  has  usually  been  active  near  the 
Newfoundland  banks  and  above  them,  providing  a  dangerous  trap  for 
mariners  who  had  to  guess  at  direction  since  they  carried  no  compass. 
It  sent  Thorstein,  through  great  trouble  and  hardship,  all  over  the 
sea  to  no  purpose.  Very  likely  it  sent  Bishop  Eric  and  his  companions 
to  the  bottom,  destroying  with  them  all  hope  of  a  Christianized  and 
organized  Wineland. 

Thorfinn  Karlsefni,  though  an  enterprising  man,  probably  owed 
his  especial  reputation  for  success  to  his  very  great  care  in  making 
sure.  Like  all  such,  he  had  the  wit  to  profit  by  the  mistakes  of 
others.  He  was  a  seasoned  navigator  who  had  thus  far  avoided 
mishap,  through  knowing  how  to  humor  the  northern  seas.  More- 
over, in  Red  Eric  he  had  the  counsel  of  the  foremost  explorer  in  the 
world,  who  must  have  pondered  long  on  the  causes  of  his  son 
Thorstein's  failure  and  the  best  way  to  avoid  its  repetition  in  trying 
again.  If  he  had  not  seen — as  already  suggested — the  main  Ameri- 
can shore  opposite  Greenland  in  the  course  of  his  first  very  thorough 
three  years'  explorations,  his  indomitable  wilderness-rangers  like 
Thorhall  the  hunter,  must  surely  have  been  frequently  up  about  the 
straits  and  would  be  charged  season  after  season  to  bring  him  infor- 
mation. So  active  a  mind  as  Eric's  anchored  physically  by  increasing 
years  and  injuries,  could  not  fail  to  busy  itself  especially  with  the 
geography  of  the  lands  beyond  that  water  and  their  relation  to  those 
which  Leif  had  seen.  The  coming  of  driftwood  to  him  from  some  un- 
known quarter  would  be  a  continual  reminder  and  incitement.  Thor- 
stein was  dead,  Leif  was  immersed  in  aggressive  Christianity ;  in  his 
brilliant  daughter-in-law  Gudrid,  her  husband  and  Leif's  brother, 
Thorvald,  Eric  the  explorer  would  naturally  see  the  best  hope  of  sub- 
stituting success  for  failure. 

Thorfinn's  actual  route  is  carefully  given.  It  was  from  Ericsfirth 
to  Gudrid's  former  home  near  Lysufirth  in  the  smaller  settlement ; 
about  five  degrees  farther  west  and  a  long  distance  above  the  junction 
of  the  western  water  with  the  Atlantic.  Next  they  went  to  "  Bear- 
Island,"  according  to  the  Saga  of  Thorfinn  Karlsefni,  or  "  the  Bear 
Islands,"  according  to  the  Saga  of  Eric  the  Red,  which  is  generally 
the  safer  guide  where  details  differ.  No  doubt  Disco  was  called 
"Bear-Island"  (Biarney),  as  Graah,1  the  first  official  explorer  of 


Exploration  of  the  East  Coast  of  Greenland,  before  cited. 


9§  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

Eastern  Greenland,  pointed  out  nearly  a  century  ago.  But  this  was  a 
common  name,  readily  applied;  indeed  our  narrative  presents  later 
another  and  very  distant  Biarney.  Disco  is  unreasonably  far  north, 
involving  unnecessary  struggles  with  icy  currents ;  and  the  flight  from 
it  could  hardly  have  been  made  in  the  time  given  by  the  sagas,  though 
perhaps  this  item  need  not  be  insisted  on.  An  island,1  off  Baffin-land, 
on  the  American  shore  has  been  suggested,  bidding  us  assume  not 
only  that  this  coast  had  been  seen,  as  it  may  have  been,  but  that  it  had 
grown  familiar  enough  for  recognized  nomenclature  in  details.  We 
have  no  warrant  to  go  so  far.  A  more  moderate  conjecture  points  to 
the  Greenland  islands  near  the  present  Godthaab,  where  Davis  was 
attacked  by  Eskimo  nearly  six  centuries  afterward.  They  would  make 
a  good  taking-off  point.  It  was  only  necessary  to  await  a  strong 
steady  wind  from  the  north.  Having  this  behind  them,  like  migratory 
birds  of  long  travel,  Karlsefni  and  his  company  sped  down  "  south- 
ward," or  a  little  west  of  southward,  on  their  way. 

One  hundred  and  sixty  men  and  several  women  besides  Gudrid  went 
with  him — perhaps  children,  too,  as  did  Snorri  in  returning — for 
families  took  all  manner  of  chances  in  those  reckless  days.  "  All 
kinds  of  live  stock "  owned  by  Greenlanders  accompanied  these 
colonists  in  three,  or  possibly  four,  large  vessels.  Clearly  they 
intended  permanent  settlement. 

We  must  not  call  them  viking-ships,  which  never  sailed  out  of 
Iceland  or  Greenland;  though  Dr.  Fiske2  inadvertently  styles  Eric 
the  Red  "  a  viking,"  in  praising  his  explorations,  and  Colonel  Higgin- 
son 3  devotes  much  space  to  an  account  of  Norse  marauders,  to  make 
us  acquainted  with  the  people  who  tried  at  great  risk  and  through 
much  hardship  to  settle  America.  The  only  enlightenment  is  col- 
lateral, and  the  general  effect  is  misleading. 

Such  utterances  grow  out  of  a  confusion  like  that  between  sea-king 
and  viking,  which  gives  the  first  syllable  of  the  latter  its  broad  current 
mispronunciation.  Three  types  must  be  distinguished :  the  sea-king, 
the  viking  and  the  settled  man  of  the  north  who  created  what 
prosperity  was  going  and  offered  the  best  hope  for  the  future.  The 
first — for  example  Olaf  the  White  Queen  Aud's  husband — made 
conquests  by  his  navy,  and  differed  from  other  navy-wielders  only  in 

1 J.  T.  Smith:  The  Discovery  of  America  by  the  Norsemen  in  the  Tenth 
Century.  Also  the  Minn.  Hist.  Soc.  Report,  already  cited  p.  13.  (His  map 
with  additions.) 

8 The  Discovery  of  America. 

3  Higginson  and  MacDonald :  History  of  the  United  States.  Ed.  1905,  pp. 
25  et  seq. 


NO.    IQ  NORSE   VISITS   TO    NORTH   AMERICA — BABCOCK  99 

being  less  definitely  anchored  politically  and  more  ready  to  drop 
anchor  permanently  abroad.  The  second  was  a  predatory  son  of  the 
vik  or  fiord  (as  his  name  tells  us)  in  which  he  had  his  den,  and  whence 
he  issued,  to  pounce  on  passing  ships  or  harry  the  farmers  along  the 
shore. 

If  these  things  were  done  far  afield,  men  counted  them  acts  of  war 
against  the  outer  world  and  the  perpetrators  were  considered  heroes. 
Many  generally  commendable  Scandinavians  engaged  in  them.  Some- 
times even  formidable  associations  were  organized,  to  more  efficiently 
exploit  this  wide  opportunity.  But  excitement  and  yet  more  the 
prospect  of  booty  were  at  the  bottom  of  it  all.  In  proportion  as  the 
achievements  occurred  nearer  home,  they  were  regarded  with  more 
disfavor.  Especially  was  this  true  in  that  northern  island  which  was 
colonized  by  picked  men  choosing  exile  rather  than  submission,  whose 
natures  also  were  modified  from  the  beginning  by  other  blood  of 
more  ripe  and  gracious  culture.  The  home-raider  was  held  not 
wholly  admirable  in  Norway  ;  he  became  in  Iceland  (see  Landnama) 
"  the  most  wrongful  of  men  "  and  "  a  viking  and  a  scoundrel."  Just 
so,  Ospak *  of  the  northern  Ere  and  his  merry  men,  owned  a  lieuten- 
ant, one  Raven,  adequately  stigmatized  in  another  great  saga  as  "  by 
named  the  viking,  he  was  nought  but  an  evil  doer."  There  is  no  com- 
promise in  the  characterization  of  such  folk  by  the  early  heroic  litera- 
ture. The  teaching  is  often  by  example  rather  than  precept,  by  dra- 
matic exhibition  rather  than  denunciation ;  but  we  are  expected  to  feel 
that  the  boiling  alive  2  of  professional  bullies  might  be  overlooked,  if 
not  applauded,  and  that  almost  the  very  worst  type  of  man  was  he 
who  brutally  afflicted  his  neighbors,  and  thus  acquired  their  wives 
and  goods.  To  the  Icelander,  if  there  were  one  kind  of  robberbully 
more  intolerable  than  another,  it  was  the 'local  amphibious  viking. 
Rather  early  in  the  prosperity  of  the  island,  it  necessarily  made  an 
end  of  him.  But  that  "  viking  "  should  be  anything  but  a  synonym 
for  aquatic  hero  in  these  northern  lands  hardly  seems  to  have  sug- 
gested itself  to  most  English-writing  historians.  The  sea-king  and 
the  viking  were  the  greater  nuisance  and  the  less  of  their  period ;  but 
there  was  this  to  be  said  for  the  former,  that  he  revived  in  some 
form  the  order  which  he  overturned  and  often  was  a  factor  in  improve- 
ment, whereas  the  viking  was  merely  destructive,  except  in  his  own 
home  or  within  the  limits  of  his  predatory  association. 


1  The  Eyrbyggja  Saga.    Morris  and  Magnusson'stransl.,  pp.  164,291.    Notes. 
2Eyrbyggja  Saga,  p.  70. 


IOO  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

The  normal  Norseman,  of  whom  we  hear  less,  was  a  good  man  at 
arms,  under  penalty  of  losing  all ;  too  ready,  no  doubt,  to  obey  the 
battle  summons  even  in  the  neighborhood  or  family  quarrels ;  but  less 
a  soldier  than  a  trader,  a  farmer,  a  fisherman  or  something  of  all 
three,  as  well  as  a  curious  traveler  abroad.  At  heart  he  was  anything 
but  a  pirate.  The  habit  of  industry  was  almost  curiously  dominant  in 
all  classes  and  exhibited  in  the  most  artless,  unpretending  way. 
The  great  chief  and  champion  Gunnar  is  discovered  sowing  grain  with 
his  own  hands  in  the  crisis  of  his  fate ;  at  Bolli's  command,  his  wife 
Gudrun  goes  out  of  the  dairy,  where  murder  is  to  leap  on  him,  and 
providently  washes  clothes  in  the  brook  during  that  tragedy ;  the 
vengeance  of  Bardi  falls  on  Gisli  and  his  companions  while  their 
scythes  are  asway  in  the  field ;  Hallgerda's  first  husband  is  killed,  by 
her  contrivance,  over  a  quarrel  as  to  whether  he  or  another  can  best 
handle  codfish ;  and  the  whole  troop  of  Flosi  the  Burner  postpone  one 
of  the  most  notable  recorded  instances  of  Norse  vengeance  until  they 
have  properly  completed  the  haying.  The  old  time  Icelander  was  a 
very  practical,  if  a  very  belligerent  and  litigious,  hero,  with  genuine 
honesty  as  he  saw  it,  and  a  real  intention  to  be  law-abiding  in  the  main, 
though  abiding  a  most  topsy-turvy  kind  of  law. 

Yet,  while  not  a  viking,  he  might  have  as  good  ships  or  better. 
Such  were  the  "  dragons  "  or  "  serpents,"  built  for  dangerous  hazards 
and  important  missions,  for  withstanding  the  worst  onset  of  the  ele- 
ments— at  need  for  hand  to  hand  boarding  with  sword  and  axe  and 
spear,  also  for  the  most  effective  pursuit  or  escape. 

Of  course  they  were  not  the  only  kind.  A  rather  clumsy  and 
dilatory  craft  *  was  in  use  more  or  less  for  ordinary  trading  purposes. 
Its  modern  representative  was  pointed  out  to  Professor  Packard2 
by  a  Norwegian,  and  taken  as  an  approximate  standard  in  the  sailing 
calculations  of  the  former  for  the  time  needed  in  the  passage  between 
Newfoundland  and  Greenland  across  the  dreaded  Ginnungagap. 
But  one  of  the  exploring  vessels  had  already  borne  Thorbiorn  and 
Gudrid  with  their  fortunes  to  Greenland,  when  a  dismal  death,  or 
life,  honor  and  prosperity,  were  in  the  cast  of  a  die,  and  all  that  he 
owned  had  gone  to  the  venture ;  a  second  was  Thorfinn's  own ;  a  third 
belonged  to  Biarni,  a  chivalric  chieftain  of  the  highest  personal  pride 
and  most  exacting  followers.  Such  craft  would  more  likely  be  of  the 
dragon  or  serpent  pattern,  beautiful  open  ships  "  which  were  probably 
stronger  and  more  seaworthy  and  certainly  much  swifter  than  the 


1  Heimskringla.    Laing's  transl.,  vol.  I,  p.  441. 
2 A.  S.  Packard:  The  Labrador  Coast,  pp.  24,  26. 


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NO.    19  NORSE   VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA-^bABCOCK  101, 

Spanish  vessels  of  the  time  of  Columbus."  Laing1  gives  similar 
testimony.  One  of  the  largest  on  record  was  King  Olaf's  Great 
Serpent,  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  the  keel. 

Colonel  Higginson  2  has  described  this  type,  from  a  fine  specimen 
yielded  up  nearly  intact  by  the  northern  sands.  I  quote  only  a  little : 

She  was  seventy-seven  feet  eleven  inches  at  the  greatest  length  and  sixteen 
feet  eleven  inches  at  the  greatest  width  ....  and  would  draw  less  than  four  feet 

of  water As  a  whole  this  disinterred  vessel  proved  to  be  anything  but  the 

rude  and  primitive  craft  which  might  have  been  expected.  It  was  neatly  built 
and  well  preserved,  constructed  on  what  a  sailor  would  call  beautiful  lines  and 

eminently  fitted  for  sea-service Many  such  vessels  may  be  found  depicted 

on  the  celebrated  Bayeux  tapestry This  was  not  one  of  the  very  largest 

ships,  for  some  of  them  had  thirty  oars  on  each  side  (instead  of  its  sixteen) 

and  vessels  carrying  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  were  not  uncommon 

Probably  the  sail  was  much  like  those  still  carried  by  large  open  boats  in  that 
country,  a  single  square  on  a  mast  forty  feet  long. 

Thus  equipped,  Thorfinn  could  go  quite  literally  on  the  wings  of 
the  wind.  Henceforward,  at  least  as  far  as  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  we 
have  the  benefit  of  their  log  and  sailing  directions.  Leif  has  given 
us  no  such  aid,  but  there  was  no  such  motive  in  his  case.  He  had 
stumbled  on  his  great  good  fortune,  and  probably  acted  mainly  from 
impulse  in  skirting  the  shore  awhile,  and  touching  here  and  there  for 
specimens,  before  hurrying  home  to  evangelize  Greenland.  Thorfinn, 
however,  aimed  at  permanency,  and  it  was  most  important  to  note 
closely  the  route  which  must  be  retraced  in  sending  tidings  and 
establishing  communication  with  the  parent  colony,  and  which  all 
reinforcements  must  follow.  It  is  plain  sailing  in  the  saga  as  in 
reality,  with  merely  some  uncertainty  as  to  the  exact  intervals  of  time 
and  distance  intended.  In  that  the  swiftness  of  the  wind-driven 
ships  of  course  must  be  considered. 

The  saga  tells  us  : 

Thence  they  sailed  away  beyond  the  Bear  Isles  with  northerly  winds.  They 
were  out  two  doegr;  then  they  discovered  land,  and  rowed  thither  in  boats, 
and  explored  the  country,  and  found  there  many  flat  stones  [hellur],  so  large, 
that  two  men  could  well  spurn  soles  upon  them  [».  e.,  lie  at  full  length  upon 
them  sole  to  sole]  ;  there  were  many  Arctic  foxes  there.  They  gave  a  name 
to  the  country  and  called  it  Helluland. 

Thence  they  sailed  two  "  doegr,"  and  bore  away  from  the  south  toward  the 
south-east  and  they  found  a  wooded  country  and  on  it  many  animals ;  an  island 
lay  there  off  the  land  toward  the  south-east;  they  killed  a  bear  on  this,  and 
called  it  afterwards  Biarney  [Bear  Isle]  ;  but  the  country  Markland  [Forest-- 
land]. When  two  "doegr"  had  elapsed,  they  descried  land,  and  they  sailed 
off  this  land ;  there  was  a  cape  [ness]  to  which  they  came.  They  beat  into  the 
wind  along  this  coast,  having  the  land  upon  the  starboard  [right]  side.  This 

1  Heimskringla,  Laing's  Introduction,  vol.  I,  p.  160. 

2  Higginson  and  MacDonald :  History  of  the  United  States    Ed.   1905,  pp. 
30  et  seq. 


TO2  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

was  a  bleak  coast,  with  long  and  sandy  shores.  They  went  ashore  in  boats, 
and  found  the  keel  of  a  ship,  so  they  called  it  Keelness  there;  they  likewise 
gave  a  name  to  the  strands  and  called  them  Furdustrandir  (Wonder  Strands), 
because  they  were  so  long  to  sail  by.  Then  the  country  became x  fiord-cut  and 
they  steered  their  ships  into  a  bay.2 

Here  the  interpolated  unauthentic  episode  of  Haki  and  Haekia 
occurs.  "  One  of  them  carried  in  the  hand  a  bunch  of  grapes,  the  other 
wheat  selfsown.  Karlsefni  said  they  seemed  to  have  found  goodly 
indigenous  products."  The  original  narrative  proceeds,  beginning 
with  a  repetition  which  is  enough  of  itself  to  show  the  break  made 
by  the  foreign  matter : 

Karlsefni  and  his  followers  held  on  their  way,  until  they  came  where  the 
coast  was  fiord-cut  (or  indented  with  bays).  They  stood  into  a  bay  with  their 
ships.  There  was  an  island  out  at  the  mouth  of  the  bay,  about  which  there 
were  strong  currents,  wherefore  they  called  it  Straumey  [stream  island]. 
There  were  so  many  eider  ducks  ["  birds,"  Thorfinn  Karlsefni]  3  on  the  island 
that  it  was  scarcely  possible  to  walk  for  the  eggs.  They  sailed  through  the 
firth,  and  called  it  Straumfiord  [stream  firth]  and  carried  their  cargoes  ashore 

from  the  ships,  and  established  themselves  there There  were  mountains 

there  and  the  country  round  about  was  fair  to  look  upon.  They  did  nought 
but  explore  the  country.  There  was  tall  grass  there.  They  remained  there 
during  the  winter,  and  they  had  a  hard  winter,  for  which  they  had  not  pre- 
pared, and  they  grew  short  of  food,  and  the  fishing  fell  off.  Then  they  went 
out  to  the  island,  in  the  hope  that  something  might  be  forthcoming  in  the  way 
of  fishing  or  flotsam.  There  was  little  food  left,  however,  although  their  live- 
stock fared  well  there  [i.  e.,  on  the  island].  Then  they  invoked  God,  that  he 
might  send  them  food,  but  they  did  not  get  response  so  soon  as  they  needed. 
Thorhall  disappeared.  They  searched  for  him  three  half  days  and  on  the 
fourth  day  Karlsefni  and  Biarni  found  him  on  a  projecting  crag  [note,  of  the 
island].  He  was  lying  there  and  looking  up  at  the  sky,  with  his  eyes,  nostrils 
and  mouth  wide-stretched,  and  was  scratching  himself,  and  muttering  some- 
thing. They  asked  him  why  he  had  gone  thither;  he  replied  that  it  did  not 
concern  any  one ;  he  told  them  not  to  be  surprised  at  this ;  adding  that  he  had 
lived  sufficiently  long  to  render  it  unnecessary  for  them  to  take  counsel  for 
him.  They  asked  him  then  to  go  home  with  them  and  he  did  so.  Soon  after 
this  a  whale  appeared  there,  and  they  went  to  it,  and  flensed  it,  and  no  one 
could  tell  what  manner  of  whale  it  was.  Karlsefni  had  much  knowledge  of 
whales,  but  he  did  not  know  this  one.  When  the  cooks  had  prepared  it,  they 
ate  of  it,  and  were  all  made  ill  by  it.  Then  Thorhall,  approaching  them,  says : 
"Did  not  the  Red-beard  prove  more  helpful  than  your  Christ?  This  is  my 


1  Olson  substitutes  "fiord-cut,"  as  more  exact,  for  Reeves'  "indented  with 
bays." 

2 A.  M.  Reeves:  The  Finding  of  Wineland  the  Good,  pp.  42-43. 

3  Compare  Bird  Island  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  where  Packard  in  1864 
found  the  whole  top  white  with  nesting  birds.  In  1860  about  50,000  pairs  of 
gannets  nested  there,  5,000  in  1874;  50  in  1882,  and  their  nests  had  been  rifled 
when  found.  Funk  Island  off  Newfoundland  on  the  Atlantic  side  was  also 
often  called  Bird  Island  for  like  reasons. 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  IO3   ' 

reward  for  the  verses  which  I  composed  to  Thor  the  Trustworthy ;  seldom 
has  he  failed  me  " ;  and  when  the  people  knew  this,  none  of  them  would  eat, 
and  they  cast  [it]  down  over  the  rocks,  and  invoked  God's  mercy.  The 
weather  then  improved,  and  they  were  able  to  row  out  to  fish,  and  they  had 
no  longer  any  lack  of  the  necessities  of  life.  In  the  spring  they  went  into 
Straumfirth  and  obtained  provisions  from  both  regions,  hunting  on  the  main- 
land, gathering  eggs,  and  deep-sea  fishing. 

Now  they  took  counsel  together  concerning  their  expedition,  and  came  to 
an  agreement.  Thorhall  the  Huntsman  wished  to  go  northward  around  Won- 
derstrands  and  past  Keelness,  and  to  seek  Wineland ;  while  Karlsefni  wished  to 
proceed  southward  along  the  land  and  to  the  eastward,  believing  that  country  to 
be  greater,  which  is  farther  to  the  southward,  and  it  seemed  to  him  more  advis- 
able to  explore  both.  Thorhall  prepared  for  his  voyage  out  below  the  island, 
having  only  nine  men  in  his  party,  for  all  of  the  remainder  of  his  company 
went  with  Karlsefni. 

Of  this  picturesque  dissentient  and  minority-leader  we  hear  earlier 
in  the  saga : 

Thorhall  was  called  the  Huntsman ;  he  had  long  lived  with  Eric,  engaging  in 
fishing  and  hunting  expeditions  during  the  summer,  and  had  many  things  under 
his  charge.  Thorhall  was  a  man  of  great  stature,  swart  and  giant-like;  he 
was  rather  stricken  with  years,  overbearing  in  manner,  taciturn,  and  usually  a 
man  of  few  words,  underhanded  in  his  dealings,  and  yet  given  to  offensive 
language,  and  always  ready  to  stir  up  evil ;  he  had  given  little  heed  to  the  true 
faith  after  its  introduction  into  Greenland.  Thorhall  was  not  very  popular, 
but  Eric  had  long  been  accustomed  to  seek  his  advice.  He  was  in  the  same  ship 
with  Thorvald  and  his  companions  because  he  had  extensive  knowledge  of  the 
uninhabited  regions. 

Continuing  the  narrative :  ' 

And  one  day  when  Thorhall  was  carrying  water  aboard  the  ship,  and  was 
drinking,  he  recited  this  ditty : * 

"  When  I  came,  these  brave  men  told  me, 

Here  the  best  of  drink  I'd  get, 
Now  with  water-pail  behold  me, — 

Wine  and  I  are  strangers  yet. 
Stooping  at  the  spring,  I've  tested 

All  the  wine  this  land  affords ; 
Of  its  vaunted  charms  divested, 
Poor  indeed  are  its  rewards." 

Then  they  put  to  sea  and  Karlsefni  accompanies  them  out  off  the  island. 
Before  they  hoisted  sail,  Thorhall  recited  this  ditty: 
"  Comrades,  let  us  now  be  faring 

Homeward  to  our  own  again ! 
Let  us  try  the  sea-steed's  daring, 
Give  the  chafing  courser  rein. 
Those  who  will  may  bide  in  quiet, 
Let  them  praise  their  chosen  land, 
Fasting  on  a  whale-steak  diet, 

In  their  home  of  Wonder-strand." 


1  A.  M.  Reeves:  The  Finding  of  Wineland  the  Good. 


IO4  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

Then  he  "  sailed  away  to  the  northward  past  Wonderstrands  and 
Keelness,  intending  to  cruise  to  the  westward  around  that  cape."  No 
more  was  heard  of  him,  until,  after  their  return  to  Iceland,  traders 
brought  word  that  he  had  been  enslaved  in  Ireland,  where  he  is  said 
to  have  died.  Storms  were  given  the  credit  of  causing  this  unex- 
pected and  rather  prodigious  and  disastrous  journey;  but  perhaps  he 
had  taken  the  opportunity  to  withdraw  with  a  ship  from  westward 
lands  altogether. 

To  offset  this  defection,  the  baby  Snorri  had  arrived  as  a  little 
reinforcement,  his  birth-place  being  apparently  the  shore  of  the 
bay  behind  Straumey,  before  they  moved  out  to  that  island  in  the 
winter :  for  we  are  told  later  that  "  Snorri,  Karlsefni's  son  was 
born  the  first  autumn  and  was  three  winters  old  when  they  (finally) 
went  away."  He  may  have  been  about  six  months  old  when  the  party 
divided,  and  "  Karlsefni  cruised  southward  off  the  coast  with  Snorri 
and  Biarni  and  their  people." 

No  doubt  there  was  hope  of  establishing  their  home  permanently 
in  some  spot  which  would  better  fulfill  the  expectations  aroused  by 
Leif.  The  absence  lasted  however,  only  a  year ;  making  an  episode 
presenting  so  many  special  problems  that  it  must  be  treated  separately. 

Returning  from  this  southern  sojourn : 

They  now  arrived  again  at  Streamfirth  where  they  found  great  abundance 
of  all  those  things  of  which  they  stood  in  need.  Some  men  say,  that  Biarni 
and  Gudrid  remained  behind  there  with  a  hundred  men,  and  went  no  further ; 
while  Karlsefni  and  Snorri  proceeded  to  the  southward  with  forty  men,  tarry- 
ing at  Hop  barely  two  months  and  returning  again  the  same  summer.  Karl- 
sefni then  set  out  with  one  ship,  in  search  of  Thorhall  and  Huntsman,  but  the 
greater  part  of  the  company  remained  behind.  They  sailed  to  the  northward 
around  Keelness,  and  then  bore  to  the  westward,  having  land  to  the  larboard 
[left].  There  were  wooded  wildernesses  there;  and  when  they  had  journeyed 
a  considerable  distance,  a  river  flowed  down  from  the  east  toward  the  west. 
They  sailed  into  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  lay  to  by  the  southern  bank. 

It  happened  one  morning,  that  Karlsefni  and  his  companions  discovered  in  an 
open  space  in  the  woods  above  them,  a  speck,  which  seemed  to  shine  toward 
them,  and  they  shouted  at  it:  it  stirred,  and  it  was  a  Uniped 1  [onefooter], 
who  skipped  down  to  the  bank  of  the  river  by  which  they  were  lying.  Thor- 
vald,  a  son  of  Eric  the  Red,  was  sitting  at  the  helm,  and  the  Uniped  shot  an 
arrow  into  his  inwards.  Thorvald  drew  out  the  arrow  and  exclaimed :  "  There 
is  fat  around  my  paunch ;  we  have  hit  upon  a  fruitful  country,  and  yet  we  are 


^ansen:  In  Northern  Mists;  contains  a  picture  of  a  harmless-looking  one 
copied  from  the  well-known  Hereford  map.  The  fancy  may  have  come  from 
the  south ;  but  Norsemen  were  ready  to  see  Unipeds  even  in  Scandinavia  on 
slight  provocation — much  more  on  an  inner  shore  of  a  land  of  mystery  and 
dread. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  IO5 

not  likely  to  get  much  profit  of  it."  Thorvald  died  soon  after  from  his  wound. 
Then  the  Uniped  ran  away  back  toward  the  north.  Karlsefni  and  his  men 
pursued  him,  and  saw  him  from  time  to  time  and  it  seemed  as  if  he  were 
trying  to  escape.  The  last  they  saw  of  him,  he  ran  down  into  a  creek.  Then 
they  turned  back;  whereupon  one  of  the  men  recited  this  ditty: 

"  Eager,  our  men,  up  hill  down  dell, 

Hunted  a  Uniped; 
Hearken,  Karlsefni,  while  they  tell 
How  swift  the  quarry  fled !  " 

Then  they  sailed  away  back  toward  the  north,  and  believed  they  had  got 
sight  of  the  land  of  the  Unipeds ;  nor  were  they  disposed  to  risk  the  lives  of 
their  men  any  longer.  They  concluded  that  the  mountains  of  Hop,  and  those 
which  they  had  now  found,  formed  one  chain,  and  this  appeared  to  be  so 
because  they  were  about  an  equal  distance  removed  from  Straumfiord  in  either 
direction.  They  intended  to  explore  all  the  mountains,  those  which  were  at 
Hop  and  those  which  they  discovered.  They  sailed  back  and  passed  the  third 
winter  at  Straumfiord. 

Then  the  men  began  to  grow  quarrelsome,  of  which  the  women  were  the 
cause ;  and  those  who  were  without  wives,  endeavored  to  seize  upon  the  wives 
of  those  who  were  married,  whence  the  greatest  trouble  arose. 

When  they  sailed  away  from  Wineland,  they  had  a  southerly  wind,  and  so 
came  upon  Markland,  where  they  found  five  Skrellings,  of  whom  one  was 
bearded,  two  were  women,  and  two  were  children.  Karlsefni  and  his  people 
took  the  boys,  but  the  others  escaped,  and  these  Skrellings  sank  down  into  the 
earth.  They  bore  the  lads  away  with  them,  and  taught  them  to  speak,  and 
they  were  baptized.  They  said,  that  their  mother's  name  was  Vaetilldi,  and 
their  father's  Uvsegi.  They  said,  that  kings  governed  the  land  of  the  Skrel- 
lings, one  of  whom  was  called  Avalldamon,  and  the  other  Valldidida.  They 
stated,  that  there  were  no  houses  there,  and  that  the  people  lived  in  caves 
or  holes. 

Then  follows  the  information  before  mentioned  about  a  possible 
Ireland  the  Great ;  also  the  statement  of  their  return  to  Greenland ; 
where  they  passed  the  winter,  going  on  to  Iceland  the  next  season. 

The  little  epic  pendant  of  Biarni's  death,  the  experience  of  Gudrid 
with  her  mother-in-law,  and  the  genealogy  of  "  Herra  Hauk  the 
Lawman  "  end  the  saga. 

Dr.  Nansen  has  noticed  the  insertion  of  The  Gaelic  Runners 
episode  in  the  wrong  place,  but  apparently  misses  the  significance 
of  the  words  about  entering  a  bay  which  precede  and  follow  it.  Evi- 
dently there  was  but  one  bay,  repeated  by  the  interpolator  to  keep  up 
the  story  or  in  mere  carelessness.  These  were  intending  settlers 
guided  by  Eric's  advice  and  plan  of  penetrating  deep  inlets  and  estab- 
lishing themselves  in  fertile,  ample,  grassy  borders.  Passamaquoddy 
Bay,  just  beyond  Grand  Manan,  would  be  the  first  to  tempt  them  one 
would  say. 


IO6  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

14.— THEIR  WINELAND  VOYAGE  INTERPRETED 

Some  romantic  matter  concerning  Thorhall,  Thorvald,  and  Mark- 
land — which  may  well  be  quite  true  in  substance  yet  should  not  be 
treated  as  historic — has  been  given  above,  not  only  because  it  is 
threaded  on  the  very  coherent  and  sensible  explorers'  narrative  in  the 
saga  and  has  a  certain  literary  interest,  but  because  of  its  helpful  data, 

We  see  that  this  narrative  deals  with  wide  intervals,  great  areas, 
impressive  features  of  the  coast,  and  prodigious  phenomena,  ignoring 
minor  items,  except  for  identification  or  incidental  entertainment. 
Again,  wherever  the  explorers  follow  the  coast  for  any  great  distance, 
its  notable  characteristics  are  carefully  given ;  so,  when  these  do  not 
appear,  we  may  be  sure  they  sailed  out  of  clear  sight  of  land. 

We  may  find  something  artificial  in  the  periodicity  of  the  "  two 
doegr  "  interval,  once  repeated  in  the  Saga  of  Thorfinn  Karlsefni, 
twice  in  the  more  precise  companion  Saga  of  Eric  the  Red ;  and 
undoubtedly  such  conventional  divisions  are  a  stock  property  of  old 
sea-exploring  tales.  Thus  there  are  three  periods  in  the  outward 
voyage  of  Edrisi's  1  Magrurin,  first  about  eleven  days,  then  twelve, 
and  then  twelve  again.  But  in  tracing  a  coast  for  suitable  settlement 
sites,  a  periodical  inspection  might  be  planned  from  the  outset  for  the 
earlier  part  of  the  work  by  way  of  saving  time,  and  to  keep  the 
record  brief,  as  it  should  be  if  in  runic  characters.  This  plan  would 
answer  very  well  until  they  should  reach  habitable  country,  which 
would  require  to  be  examined  more  minutely ;  and,  in  point  of  fact, 
we  hear  no  more  of  the  "  doegr "  after  the  landing  at  Keelness. 
It  will  not  do  to  say  that  every  statement  of  regularly  divided  human 
undertaking  is  untrue  because  regular  divisions  occur  also  in  stories 
mainly  fanciful.  Thorfinn  comes  before  us  as  a  wary,  systematic,  and 
successful  personage,  and  the  method  here  indicated  seems  quite  in 
character.  The  parallel  with  myths  and  folk-tales  has  little  value, 
except  where  the  events  narrated  and  divided  are  clearly  fortuitous. 

Newfoundland  cannot  be  Helluland  (as  some  used  to  think)  for 
several  reasons ;  in  particular,  it  is  not  severe,  bare,  and  stony  enough, 
and  has  far  too  few  Arctic  foxes.  Prof.  Packard,2  who  had 
scientifically  studied  these  regions,  declares  for  the  eastern  face  of 
Labrador,  perhaps  "  near  Cape  Harrison  or  along  the  coast  to  the 
northward."  Sir  Clements  Markham,8  another  and  very  competent 


1  Edrisi :  Geographic.    Jaubert's  transl.,  vol.  2,  p.  27. 

2  The  Labrador  Coast,  p.  n. 

3  Remarks  on  Dr.  Nansen's  paper.    London  Geogr.  Journ.,  Dec.  1911. 


SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS 


VOL.    59,     NO.     19,    PL.    9 


hlid  (Thorf inn's  point-  of  departure 
and  return) 


e  f» 

horvalds    °wl,  U*i\\  «\BRETON  ISLAND 
a^Pl^eii/f/J^(Kjalarness- 

,%  afterward  called  Cornu 
!/f         du  GalliaU 

__      THE  WONDERSTRAND3 

Fir/clerstrandir) 


v 


MAP 

i  Hope.  Bay)     ILLUSTRATING 
THORFINN  KARLSEFNIS  EXPEDITION 

ABOUT      A     0-  IO03    TO    IOO6 

~~~-  Thorfinns  route  from  Brattahlid  to  Straumey. 
— -^-Thorf  inn's  route  around  NovaScotiaand  Cape 

Breton  Island  to  mouth  of  western  f  lowingriver. 
-°^o'-Thorf inn's  route  to  Hop  (as  conjectured) 


NO.    19  NORSE   VISITS   TO    NORTH   AMERICA — BABCOCK  IO? 

eye-witness; *  Dr.  Grenfell,  who  has  spent  most  of  his  life  in  humane 
service  along  that  shore;  Mr.  W.  S.  Wallace,  his  historical  coadjutor 
and  Dr.  Storm,2  reasoning  from  totally  different  experience  and  data, 
all  take  the  same  view,  but  with  less  local  exactness.  It  is  needless  to 
add  further  corroboration.  Helluland  was  Labrador,  although  it  may 
have  been  first  seen  in  the  stretch  between  Hopedale  and  Nain. 

From  the  islands  near  Godthaab  to  a  point  slightly  below  Nain 
may  be  450  miles.  The  assumed  impossibility  of  Thorfmn's  making 
the  crossing  in  the  time  stated  (probably  48  hours  for  open  sea-sail- 
ing like  this)  led  Mr.  Reeves  to  suggest  a  copyist's  error,  substituting 
"  two  "  for  seven.  But  this  is  purely  hypothetical,  involves  a  really 
prodigious  time-allowance  and  would  call  for  too  much  later  repeti- 
tion of  verbal  errors,  as  well  as  too  great  length  for  the  entire  journey. 

It  may  be  well  to  see  what  has  been  actually  recorded  in  more 
recent  times.  A  writer  on  long  distance  lake-racing  in  "  Yachting," 
for  June,  1910,  page  407,  cites  the  "  Vencidor  "  as  making  331  miles 
in  34  hours,  with  wind  astern  or  nearly  so,  a  third  of  the  distance 
being  "  through  rockstrewn  channels,  where  reefs  and  islands  furnish 
continually  shifting  currents  and  high  shores  give  baffling  slants  of 
wind."  This  is  nearly  at  the  rate  of  ten  miles  an  hour,  and  perhaps 
we  may  fairly  suppose  twelve  or  more  for  the  two-thirds  of  open 
water.  Again,  on  the  Atlantic  between  Nassau  and  Havana,  we 
learn  ; 3  "  The  '  America  '  logged  a  distance  of  400  miles  in  40  hours, 
260  of  which  was  made  in  the  first  twenty-four  hours."  This  seems 
a  reasonably  fair  comparison,  the  voyage  being  in  about  the  same 
direction  as  Thorfmn's  and  for  only  a  little  less  distance,  though  in 
much  more  southern  latitudes.  No  doubt  the  difference  between  the 
distance  made  in  the  first  day  and  that  in  the  second  is  to  be  explained 
by  some  change  either  in  the  course  or  the  wind.  We  are  given  to 
understand  that  there  was  neither  in  the  Norsemen's  case. 

Now  this  schooner-yacht  "  America "  was  beaten  by  "  the  big 
sloop '  Maria,'  "  which  "  walked  away  from  her  " 4  in  sea-sailing  before 
the  wind,  and  we  are  assured  by  the  same  work  that  this  feat  would 
probably  have  been  repeated  as  often  as  undertaken  and  at  any  time. 
Further,  we  find  that  the  proportions  of  the  "  Maria,"  no  feet  by  26 
feet  8  inches,  and  6  feet  greatest  draft,  were  substantially  those 


1  Labrador,  the  Country  and  the  People,  by  W.  T.  Grenfell  and  others,  con- 
taining Wallace's  historical  monograph. 

2  Studies  on  the  Vineland  Voyages,  already  cited. 

3G.  Bleekman  and  P.  Newton,  The  Blue  Ribbon  of  the  Sea,  p.  60. 
4  Ibid.,  p.  34- 


IO8  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

of  the  old  Norse  pattern ;  why  then  could  not  Thorfinn's  big  sloops, 
with  everything  in  their  favor,  duplicate  the  "  America's  "  feat,  or  at 
least  make  450  miles  in  48  hours  ?  That  is  less  than  ten  miles  an  hour, 
a  speed  which  has  been  exceeded  for  a  long  stretch  by  ordinary  coast- 
ing craft  on  the  Chesapeake.  Twelve  miles  an  hour  would  give  140 
miles  more  than  we  need. 

We  are  told  that  this  northern  wind  held,  and  that  they  sailed 
another  48  hours  to  Markland,  at  first  eastward  then  southward.  Dr. 
Nansen  thinks  this  direction  unwise  and  unlikely,  but  the  coastline 
trends  that  way ;  they  had  to  get  around  the  southeast  corner  of  Lab- 
rador, and  hugging  the  shore  might  be  dangerous.  Exactness  is  im- 
possible, but  it  would  seem  that  the  interval  stated  might  well  bring 
them  to  the  forested  front  of  Newfoundland  near  Bonavista  Bay, 
allowing  for  loss  of  speed  in  change  of  course.  The  experiment  might 
be  made  by  some  of  our  enterprising  yachtsmen  and  would  be 
watched  with  interest. 

Newfoundland  has  some  claims  to  be  called  Markland  still,  accord- 
ing to  Bishop  Howley's  *  description,  even  most  of  its  northern  part 
being  fairly  well  wooded.  We  have  no  reason  to  infer  any  other  aspect 
then,  excepting  that  the  forest  would  be  more  general  and  more  heavy. 
Whitbourne 2  early  in  the  seventeenth  century  averred  that  "  No 
country  can  show  pine  and  birch  trees  of  such  height  and  greatness," 
and  Blome,3  about  the  same  time,  testified  to  the  "  abundance  of 
stately  trees  fit  for  timber."  The  vegetation  of  Markland  has  perhaps 
hardly  changed  at  all,  and  the  abundance  of  wild  game  mentioned 
by  the  saga  has  always  characterized  the  island. 

Thorfinn  could  not  be  expected  to  know  it  as  such,  having  quite 
skipped  the  Strait  of  Belle  Isle  in  the  loop  around  the  bending 
coast  from  upper  or  middle  Labrador  to  middle  or  lower  Newfound- 
land ;  but  if  they  had  followed  this  closely,  it  might  have  made  little 
difference,  for  both  Cortereal  and  Davis  (according  to  Wallace) 
took  that  passage  for  a  mere  cul-de-sac,  like  Hamilton's  Inlet  farther 
north. 

The  island  called  Biarney  to  the  southeast  of  Markland  may  be 
the  large  Avalon  peninsula,  even  now  almost  cut  off  by  water.  If 
it  were  not  quite  wholly  cut  off  then,  it  might  well  appear  so,  being 
incompletely  investigated.  We  must  not  charge  any  early  voyagers 
with  modern  knowledge  of  geography.  Besides  instances  above 


1  Vinland  Vindicated,  already  cited. 

2  A  Discovery  of  Newfoundland,  p.  10. 

3R.  Blome:  Isles  and  Territories,  p.  i  (325). 


NO.    19  XORSE   VISITS   TO    NORTH   AMERICA — BABCOCK  ICK) 

given,  Cabot  *  probably  misunderstood  Avalon  as  did  Thorfinn, 
calling  it  the  isle  of  St.  John;  and  Cartier,2  after  sailing  into  the  Gulf, 
could  only  say  that  Newfoundland  was  probably  an  island.  Some  of 
the  early  maps  also  show  Avalon  as  insular. 

The  Skrellings  (or  savages)  encountered  on  their  return  may  have 
been  Beothuk.  Dr.  Rink3  thought  the  man's  name  was  probably 
Eskimo,  a  corruption  of  the  word  for  "  her  husband,"  but  Thalbitzer  * 
holds  otherwise  (see  p.  105  ante  and  note  9,  p.  177).  The  under- 
ground dwellings  5  remind  one  of  the  Eskimo  legends  concerning 
"  inlanders,"  presumably  northern  Indians,  Nascopie  or  Tinne. 
The  "  beard  "  of  the  escaping  man  was  possibly  a  mask  or  some 
misunderstood  garment,  though  the  practice  of  plucking  out  hairs 
proves  that  a  beard  might  grow  on  Amerinds,  and  other  early 
bearded  individuals  are  reported  along  our  coast.  It  is  true  that  the 
Labrador  Eskimo  were  contending  for  foothold  on  the  upper  New- 
foundland coast  early  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  may  have  been 
thus  engaged  in  the  eleventh,  but  their  presence  in  wooded  regions 
seems  unlikely.  We  can  make  little  of  these  Marklanders,  perhaps 
because  the  Icelanders  tell  us  so  little  that  is  trustworthy  about  them, 
and  the  English  and  French  so  little,  trustworthy  or  not,  about  the 
Beothuk.6  When  we  first  really  see  the  latter,  they  are  an  interior 
tribe  hiding  from  the  encompassing  peoples,  "  altogether  in  the  north 
and  west  part"  says  Whitbourne.  Cartwright7  (1770)  says  that 
summers  often  passed  without  one  being  seen;  and  they  kept  this 
over-prudent  habit  till  the  end,  which  was  probably  a  good  deal  later 
than  the  last  known  death  (of  a  captive  in  1829).  One  corpse  was 
found  aboveground  in  1886;  but  it  can  hardly  have  lasted  fifty  years. 
Cormack,8  who  reached  their  home  on  Red  Indian  Lake  in  1828, 
thought  the  remnant  of  them  hidden,  not  dead.  Their  arts,  stature, 
and  prowess  may  indicate  some  infusion  of  Norse  blood. 

In  this  identification  of  Newfoundland  with  Markland,  Packard, 
Nansen,  and  Storm  and  other  authorities  all  agree;  and  there  are 

1M.  F.  Hovvley:  The  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Newfoundland. 

2  Carder's  Voyages  :  Orig.  Narr.  Amer .  Hist. ;  also  J.  Winsor :  Fi  om  Cartier 
to  Frontenac% 

3H.  J.  Rink:  Tales  and  Traditions  of  the  Eskimo,  p.  74. 

4W.  Thalbitzer:  The  Eskimo  Language,  p.  20. 

5H.  J.  Rink:  Tales  and  Traditions  of  the  Eskimo,  pp.  262,  298. 

6 Alan  MacDougall:  The  Beothuk  Indians.  Trans.  Royal  Inst.  of  Canada, 
1890-1891,  p.  8. 

7Capt.  Cartwright's  Journal,  republished  1911,  first  20  pages. 

8 Cormack:  Journey  in  Search  of  the  Red  Indians  in  Newfoundland. 
Edinb.  Philos.  Journ.,  vol.  6,  1828-1829,  p.  327. 


110  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

no  opposing  names  that  should  carry  equal  weight.  Also,  the  facts 
uphold  them. 

The  words  of  the  saga  from  their  third  start  are :  "  When  two 
doegr  had  elapsed  they  descried  land."  Then  they  must  have  been 
without  sight  of  it,  at  least  ahead.  Presumably,  having  rounded 
Biarney,  they  kept  along,  nearly  parallel  to  the  lower  face  of  New- 
foundland, in  "  the  sea  flowing  in  between  Wineland  and  Markland," 
which  we  know  as  the  Strait  of  Cabot.  They  may  even  have  gone 
farther,  before  turning  to  the  opposite  northern  promontory  of 
Wineland  (now  Cape  Breton  Island  west  of  the  Bras  d'Or  inland  sea), 
for  we  know  that  Thorhall,  an  experienced  explorer,  afterward  loudly 
complained  that  they  had  neglected  this  better  course  to  Wineland, 
and  insisted  on  going  back  to  try  it ;  and  this  theory  of  his,  with 
other  expressions  like  sailing  "  around  Keelness,"  imply  some  notion 
of  the  great  Gulf  beyond  the  long  promontory's  tip.  The  Saga  of 
Thorfinn  Karlsefni  does  not  specify  the  time  consumed  before  making 
the  new  landfall  and  is  not  so  clear  in  its  indication  of  crossing  the 
intervening  water.  Furthermore,  it  mentions  sailing  south  along  the 
land ;  but  we  must  not  be  too  literal  about  directions.  We  find 
Champlain  saying  south,  when  he  clearly  means  southeast,  and  repeat- 
edly parting  company  with  the  map  in  such  details,  though  he  had  a 
compass  to  guide  him  and  was  unusually  careful.  With  Thorfinn  it 
was  guess-work  and  sun-piloting  or  star-piloting  ;  and  they  have  many 
fogs  in  those  regions.  The  two  parallel  versions  agree  substantially, 
here  as  elsewhere,  and  help  out  each  other's  details;  but  that  of 
Eric  the  Red  is,  I  think,  a  little  the  clearer. 

Whether  they  used  up  48  hours  or  not  in  the  passage,  they  had  to 
"  beat  back  "  a  rather  long  way  into  the  wind,  or  we  should  hardly 
have  heard  of  the  disadvantage;  so  they  must  have  been  well  on 
toward  the  tip  of  Keelness  before  turning  to  tack  eastward  through 
the  strait,  with,  of  course,  the  land  on  their  right.  This  shore  was 
that  on  which  they  are  said  to  have  found  the  keel  of  a  ship,  washed 
down  presumably  by  the  Labrador  current,  perhaps  a  relic  of  Eric's 
broken  fleet.  Those  investigators  who  have  tried  to  pick  out  a  par- 
ticular point  as  Keelness  are  clearly  wrong ;  for  Stefansson's  equiva- 
lent "  promontorium  Winelandium "  is  a  great  though  upwardly 
tapering  body  of  land,  and  the  suffix  "  ness  "  is  to  be  understood,  as  in 
Snaefelsness  and  generally  in  Iceland,  to  include  the  whole  jutting 
area  of  western  Cape  Breton  Island.  We  have  indeed  a  similar  use  of 
"  Neck  "  along  Chesapeake  Bay,  for  it  means  in  common  parlance  not 
the  connecting  isthmus  nor  any  spot  or  tooth  of  land,  but  always  the 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  III 

entire  mass  which  is  nearly  insulated.  In  this  sense  it  is  also  an 
accepted  geographic  term,  to  be  found  plentifully  on  Maryland  maps.1 
Some  of  these  "  necks  "  are  of  considerable  area. 

That  this  Keelness  is  in  fact  an  island  goes  for  nothing.  Many 
after  their  time  were  slow  in  rinding  it  out,  as  in  the  more  remarkable 
case  of  the  Strait  of  Belle  Isle.  Wytfliet's  map  of  1597  shows  Cape 
Breton  Island  as  a  solid  horn,  integral  with  the  mainland  of  Nova 
Scotia,  and  so,  on  a  smaller  scale,  does  the  map  attributed  to  Sebastian 
Cabot;  though  they  multiply  outlying  islands.  Mercator,  1587,  goes 
to  the  other  extreme,  however,  by  setting  it  well  out  from  shore  with 
the  significant  inscription  "  Drogio  dit  Cornu  du  Gallia."  Thus  some 
geographers  knew  Cape  Breton's  insularity  and  some  did  not,  after 
a  century's  opportunity  to  ascertain. 

A  different  explanation  of  the  name  Keelness  is  offered  by  the 
Flateybook  Saga,  namely,  that  it  has  the  form  of  a  ship's  keel ;  and  this 
records  an  observed  resemblance  as  old  as  the  fourteenth  century. 
A  great  part  of  the  island  is  hollow  now.  When  the  lowlying  south- 
eastern side  was  under  water,  the  resemblance  of  the  remaining  horn 
on  the  western  side  to  a  keel  would  be  more  obvious.  But  since  there 
was  a  Kjalarness  in  Iceland,  probably  well  known  to  some  of  these 
explorers,  we  may  safely  assume  a  simple  transfer  of  the  name.  The 
saga  laid  stress  on  this  northern  horn  of  Wineland,  for  no  navigator 
who  might  follow  could  miss  finding  a  feature  so  conspicuous. 

The  course  of  the  ships  is  explained  by  it  at  every  turn,  as  though 
it  were  a  main  pivot  of  proceedings  in  that  quarter.  It  is  on  the 
starboard  in  the  saga  as  the  ships  go  south  along  the  coast ;  on  the 
larboard  as  Thorfinn  long  afterward  reverses  the  course  to  pass  round 
it  into  the  Gulf  after  the  missing  Thorhall ;  he  anchors  on  its  western 
side  in  a  westward  flowing  river  (the  Margarie  or  the  Mabou)  and 
passes  northward  along  it  in  leaving  that  region.  Each  point  is  made 
with  precision  almost  as  if  dictating  items  for  a  map.  The  original 
narrator  evidently  intended  that  there  should  be  no  misunderstanding 
of  this  great  peninsula;  but  every  one  is  at  the  mercy  of  mankind 
and  the  centuries. 

There  is  a  further  argument  for  Cape  Breton  Island  as  Keelness 
in  the  corresponding  position  of  the  tip  of  the  former  and  that  of 
Stefansson's  Promontorium  Winelandium  as  compared  with  the  lati- 
tude of  Britain  and  Ireland.  Also,  the  Stefansson  map  has  a  range 
of  elevations  running  up  into  it,  quite  inconsistent  with  Cape  Cod, 


*For  example  Lake,  Griffingand  Stevenson.    Atlas  of  Kent  and  Queen  Anne 
Counties,  Maryland,  p.  30  and  elsewhere. 


112  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

the  only  competitor  that  has  been  seriously  urged.  Finally,  the 
stranding  of  the  wreck  which  left  its  keel,  if  we  may  treat  this  as 
a  verity,  would  be  much  more  likely  to  occur  on  Cape  Breton  Island 
than  on  Cape  Cod  in  times  when  the  sailing  was  all  farther  northward, 
and  in  view  of  the  arrangement  and  direction  of  the  ocean  streams. 
But  we  are  at  liberty  to  dismiss  the  keel. 

A  wonderful  succession  of  beaches  and  low  shores  began  with 
Keelness,  being  whatever  was  above  water  of  the  eastern  earth-wall 
of  the  Bras  d'Or  and  the  main  seashore  of  Nova  Scotia.  Apparently 
it  was  such  a  coast  as  we  find  now  along  New  Jersey  or  Maryland, 
seemingly  interminable  strands,  with  nothing  but  low  sand  dunes 
and  occasional  inlets  to  break  the  monotony  of  desolation  and  loneli- 
ness. Few  things  in  nature  are  more  impressive,  but  it  is  not  a  cheer- 
ing impression.  We  may  fancy  Gudrid  and  her  companions  looking 
over  the  landward  gunwale  at  that  unchanging  panorama,  with  woods 
and  hills  of  little  variety  for  a  background,  and  wondering  if  they 
would  never  have  done.  Surely  we  can  give  no  other  meaning  to 
"  This  was  a  bleak  coast  with  low  and  sandy  shores.  They  called 
them  wonderstrands  because  they  were  so  long."  The  plural  may 
indicate  slight  breaks  in  the  outline  here  and  there. 

These  people  had  swift  ships.  Beaches  of  ordinary  length  must 
also  have  been  familiar  to  all  of  them.  They  would  not  feel  a 
monotonous  sail  of  but  four  or  five  hours.  They  would  not  marvel 
at  a  stretch  of  fifty  miles ;  but  if  they  had  to  follow  down  from  Cape 
Henlopen  to  Cape  Charles,  or  along  any  equal  stretch  of  strand,  they 
might  well  record  the  wearying  novelty  as  a  "  wonder."  It  would 
rank  equal  with  the  great  treeless  wastes  of  Helluland  or  the  immense 
forest  area  below,  or  that  great  "  ness  "  which  guarded  the  entrance  to 
the  inner  Gulf.  I  think  the  Wonderstrands  must  have  stretched  for 
at  least  a  hundred  miles. 

On  grounds  to  be  explained,  it  seems  more  than  probable  that 
the  main  Wineland  home  of  these  settlers  was  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Bay  of  Fundy.  Between  the  tip  of  Cape  Breton  and  that  point,  we 
have  the  outer  coast-line  of  Nova  Scotia,  said  to  be  somewhat  over 
three  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  Obviously  then,  the  outer  coast-line 
of  Nova  Scotia  was  their  Wonderstrands.  The  palpable  fact  that 
Nova  Scotia  does  not  now  supply  these  wonderstrands  except  perhaps 
on  a  lesser,  though  relatively  considerable  scale  along  the  front  of 
Richmond  County  over  which  boats  are  sometimes  drawn,  to  the 
interior  Bras  d'Or,  seems  to  have  compelled  Dr.  Storm  to  piece  out 
this  part  of  his  theory  with  minor  beaches  that  the  Icelanders  would 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  113 

have  hardly  glanced  at  as  they  swept  by.  What  would  a  mile  of  sand 
be  to  such  craft  and  such  spirits  as  theirs  ?  Even  a  man  in  a  row-boat 
would  not  have  time  to  weary  of  that.  Make  it  ten  miles,  and  the 
case  is  yet  even  absurdly  hopeless ;  for  ten  consecutive  miles  of  strand 
cannot  be  found  along  the  mainland  of  Nova  Scotia.  Thirty  miles  or 
so  of  low  shore  may  be  found  perhaps  in  eastern  Cape  Breton  Island, 
but  would  be  little  better  if  above  water  then.  The  plain  fact  is  that 
the  saga  must  be  given  up  as  false,  in  this  part  at  least,  and — since  this 
is  of  its  very  spinal  cord — as  untrustworthy  altogether  or  we  must 
assume  the  erroneous  transfer  to  this  point  of  an  observation  made 
elsewhere,  unless  there  be  some  adequate  explanation.  And  there  is 
such  explanation.  The  coast  line  now  consists  generally  of  low  cliffs 
or  banks,  not  comparable  to  the  lofty  precipices  of  Grand  Manan,  but 
let  us  suppose  that  this  is  not  constant  in  height,  but  that,  for  good 
reason,  it  has  been  rising  continually.  Reckoning  back,  it  would  be 
correspondingly  lower  at  any  given  time,  supposing  no  counteracting 
cause  intervened  to  reverse  or  check  it  or  vary  the  rate  of  emergence. 

Our  starting  point  is  about  a  present  average  of  25  feet,  perhaps 
rather  more — as  indeed  my  own  slight  and  local  observations  would 
make  me  suppose.  But  the  above  has  been  given  me  as  a  rough 
approximation  by  a  journalist  formerly  resident  in  that  province, 
and  is  pretty  well  confirmed  by  a  Boston  yachtsman  and  an  intelli- 
gent fisherman  of  Grand  Manan,  both  personally  familiar  with  that 
shore.  Of  course  it  is  barely  provisional,  exactness  not  being  hoped 
for. 

It  does  not  seem  to  have  occurred  to  anyone  concerned  in  such 
researches  that  a  definite  and  steady  change  may  have  been  going  on. 
Rev.  Mr.  Slafter  offers  the  nearest  approach,  that  I  recall,  to  such  a 
view,  in  the  suggestion  that  islands  have  shifted  and  new  land  has 
formed,  making  identification  impracticable — but  that  is  obviously 
far  from  presenting  a  consciousness  of  explainable,  progressive 
change.  Now  conceive  the  Nova  Scotian  seaboard  lowered  by  the 
25  feet  or  more  of  its  present  height,  that  is,  brought  down  to  water- 
level  and  dipped  a  little  under — with  slight  narrowing  of  the  penin- 
sula, in  its  mainland  part,  and  partial  obliteration  of  the  eastern  side 
of  the  now  hollow  insular  terminal  part  called  Cape  Breton  Island — 
and  you  will  have  something  not  wholly  unlike  the  long  strands  of 
New  Jersey  or  the  peninsula  east  of  the  Chesapeake,  only  with  the 
hill  country  much  nearer.  It  was  the  first  introduction  of  the  sur- 
prised northern  visitors  to  the  characteristic  American  coast  line. 

The  probable  reason  for  such  a  change  is  simple  enough.  The 
withdrawal  northward  of  the  great  glacial  ice-cap,  from  half  a  mile 


114  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

to  two  miles  in  thickness,  freed  all  the  continent  as  far  down  as  the 
southern  border  of  New  England  from  an  enormous  weight  and  chill. 
Forthwith  the  elasticity  of  the  strata  began  lifting  them  slowly  behind 
it,  and  the  movement  continues  still  in  a  great  slow  wave,  even  after 
the  lapse  of  some  thousands  of  years. 

Prof.  Packard 1  long  ago  quoted  a  previous  observer  as  to  the 
uplifting  of  the  Labrador  coast,  adding  his  own  testimony.  Prof. 
McGee,  whom  I  have  consulted,  puts  the  neutral  point  where  there 
is  neither  ascent  nor  descent,  on  the  Gulf  of  Maine,  north  of  Boston, 
perhaps  not  far  from  the  New  Hampshire  line,  but  the  recent  investi- 
gations of  Mr.  Davis  2  carry  it  somewhat  farther  north.  All  above 
rises  ;  below  it  is  the  resulting  depression  or  trough  of  the  earth  wave, 
gradually  lessening  in  downward  movement.  Apparently  the  earth 
crust  behaves  like  a  blanket  undulated.  Professor  Brown  of 
Brown's  University  writes  that  five  hundred  feet  of  uplift  in  all  are 
reported  from  Labrador,  and  nearly  seven  hundred  from  parts  of  the 
Hudson  Bay  region.  Prof.  Shaler 3  has  elaborately  explained  this  de- 
pression and  re-elevation.  Mr.  Davis's  marsh  investigations  add 
another  proof  of  the  movement  by  demonstrating  the  complementary 
recent  sinking  below.  The  recent  work  on  Labrador,  the  Country  and 
the  People,  by  W.  T.  Grenfell  and  others  contains  on  page  118  a 
map  giving  the  figures  of  uplift  since  the  glacial  era  at  various  points 
of  the  Newfoundland  and  Labrador  front,  making  575  feet  at  St. 
Johns  the  maximum.  Pages  127-135,  etc.,  of  this  section,  by  R.  A. 
Daly,  add  further  discussion  of  this  phenomenon  and  the  general 
testimony  of  residents  of  the  coast  to  its  continuance. 

Even  these  results  would  have  seemed  inadequate  while  men  held 
by  the  prodigious  periods  of  the  astronomical  glacial  theories.  But 
the  observations  of  Shaler  at  Niagara,  and  of  other  investigators, 
all  the  way  from  the  northwest  to  the  Atlantic  ocean,  have  built  up  a 


1A.  S.  Packard:  The  Labrador  Coast. 

2  C.  A.  Davis  :  Salt  Marsh  Formation.  Economic  Geology,  vol.  5,  no.  7  (1910)  . 

3N.  S.  Shaler:  Nature  and  Man  in  America,  p.  96  and  context;  also  his 
Aspects  of  the  Earth,  pp.  2,  3,  6,  7,  "As  when  a  glacial  sheet  is  imposed  on  a 
continent — as  it  was  in  the  immediate  past  in  North  America — a  wide  area  of 
the  ice-laden  land  sank  beneath  the  sea ;  to  recover  its  level  when  the  depres- 
sing burden  was  removed."  Cf.  A.  R.  Wallace:  The  Geographical  Distribu- 
tion of  Animals,  vol.  i,  p.  152 — "the  weight  of  ice  piled  up  in  the  north  would 
cause  the  land  surface  to  sink  there,  perhaps  unequally,  owing  to  the  varying 
nature  of  the  interior  crust  of  the  earth ;  and  since  the  weight  has  been  re- 
moved land  would  rise  again  still  somewhat  irregularly,  and  thus  the  phenomena 
of  raised  beaches  of  arctic  shells  in  temperate  latitudes  are  explained." 


NO.    IQ  NORSE   VISITS   TO    NORTH   AMERICA — BABCOCK  115 

great  array  of  evidence,  tending  to  reduce  the  interval  from  hundreds 
of  thousands  to  a  very  few  thousand  years. 

Wright's  Greenland  Ice  Fields  and  The  Ice  Age  in  North  America 
long  ago  presented  this  matter  strongly,  though  without  converting 
every  one.  More  recently  in  the  Anthropologist  he  has  suggested 
5000  B.  C.,  and  perhaps  the  prevailing  estimate  of  the  interval  since 
the  beginning  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  only  ice-sheet  which  can  have 
directly  affected  the  fortunes  of  man  would  now  make  it  less  than 
eight  times  the  nine  hundred  years  since  the  coming  of  Thorfinn, 
though  there  are  some  dissentients. 

Of  course  the  lifting  forces  or  the  resistance  may  have  varied  in 
stress  from  time  to  time,  for  reasons  not  readily  to  be  fathomed, 
or  some  other  crustal  movements  may  have  interposed,  or  there  may 
have  been  counteracting  influences  yet  unknown.  Also  there  may 
have  been  local  eddy-like  exceptions  of  downward  crumpling  or  earth- 
quake depression,1  as  perhaps  on  the  shore  of  the  Bay  of  Acadia, 
not  affecting  the  Atlantic  coast.  This  depression  seems  to  have 
ended  long  ago,  and  may  perhaps  be  paired  with  the  convulsion  that 
sank  so  much  land,  leaving  tree  stumps  at  the  bottom  of  lakes  and 
in  marshes  near  New  Madrid,  Missouri,  early  in  the  nineteenth 
century. 

Perhaps  there  has  not  been  sufficient  search  for  direct  evidence 
in  situ  of  uplift  along  the  Nova  Scotian  coast  such  as  we  have  so 
strikingly  from  Labrador  and  the  upper  part  of  the  Maine  sea- 
front.  Locally  there  is  some  scientific  opinion  or  feeling  that  this 
probably  has  not  occurred.  Indeed  a  positive  descent2  of  the  shore 
at  certain  points,  notably  Louisbourg,  used  to  be  inferred  from  the 
submergence  of  the  old  French  works.  But  later  investigation  * 
has  shown  that  the  facts  do  not  call  for  such  an  inference,  the  military 
architects  having  planted  their  embankments  in  the  water;  and  no 
change  either  way  in  elevation  can  be  said  to  be  directly  proved. 
There  has  not  been  time  for  any  conspicuous  effect,  and  the  shifting 
of  water  currents  and  of  sand,  or  other  local  conditions  may 
apparently  reduce  it. 

Nova  Scotian  direct  evidence  not  counting  either  way,  we  must 
accept  for  guide  the  action  of  natural  laws  shown  to  have  taken 
effect  on  the  relatively  more  southern,  as  well  as  the  more  northern, 


1J.  W.  Dawson:  Acadian  Geology,  p.  3;  also  supplement,  pp.  13-21. 
2Gessner:  in  Journ.  Geol.  Soc.  London,  vol.  18,  p.  36. 

3  H.  S.  Poole  :  Subsidence  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  of  Nova  Scotia.    Trans. 
Nova  Scotian  Inst.  of  Science,  vol.  n,  p.  262  and  Mclntosh,  p.  264. 


Il6  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL,    59 

parts  of  the  American  Atlantic  coast.  In  the  absence  of  any  indica- 
tion of  counteracting  forces,  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  arbitrarily 
assume  them.  What  has  happened  and  is  happening"  between  Nor- 
folk and  Boston  implies  a  corresponding  reverse  movement  in  the 
coast  between  Labrador  and  the  middle  of  Maine,  or  wherever 
the  neutral  point  may  be.  This  reach  of  shore  almost  certainly  in- 
cludes Nova  Scotia ;  the  sea-front  of  which  has  the  air  of  an  emerg- 
ing shore,  as  different  as  possible  from  a  descending  one,  where  old 
river  valleys  become  broadened  estuaries,  bordered  by  marshes,  low 
islands  and  broad  sand  banks,  as  in  the  region  of  the  Chesapeake  and 
Delaware. 

Dr.  Nansen,  discarding  the  explanation  of  the  saga  and  apparently 
forgetting  the  natural  transformation  of  a  coast-line  in  a  formerly 
glaciated  region,  supposes  that  the  Wonderstrands  were  originally 
named  for  the  wonders  which  they  exhibited.  He  does  not  suggest 
what  these  may  have  been  beyond  a  hesitating  note  concerning  won- 
derfully beautiful  islands  of  myth  and  fancy.  But  there  is  surely  only 
a  faint  verbal  link  between  the  wonder  of  supreme  beauty  and  the 
wonder  of  impressive  desolation.  Also  it  is  most  incredible  that  the 
saga  should  have  omitted  all  mention  of  prodigies  which  conferred 
one  of  its  most  important  local  names.  And  what  marvels  could 
they  own,  surpassing  the  almost  appalling  interminable  succession  of 
strands  and  dunes,  constituting  now  as  then  the  dominant  typical 
American  coast-line  ? 

Whatever  else  may  be  doubted  there  is  no  denying  that  some  Ice- 
lander, before  1334 — when  Hauk  died,  who  copied  for  us  the  passage 
in  question,  had  become  acquainted  with  the  American  Atlantic  coast 
as  we  see  it  now  with  slight  breaks  in  its  upper  part  from  the  tip  of 
Florida  to  the  tip  of  Cape  Cod.  Did  Hauk  come  here  or  the  saga- 
man  ?  There  is  no  record  of  any  visits  before  that  time  except  those 
of  the  saga  and  even  the  Flateybook  version  avers  that  "  of  all  men 
Karlsefni  has  given  the  most  exact  accounts  of  all  these  voyages." 
Leif  must  already  have  seen  that  strange  coast  and  prepared  him  for 
it.  There  is  no  great  reason  to  doubt  that  Thorfinn  saw  it  also. 

The  Wonderstrands  (if  Nova  Scotia)  were  not  remarkable  for  high 
tides  and  strong  currents.  On  the  contrary,  these  were  (and  are) 
rather  feeble.  Cabot  found  but  2^4  to  4  feet  of  rise  and  fall,  and 
Harrisse,1  reporting  him,  says :  "  This  diminutiveness  is  peculiar  to 


1H.  Harrisse:  The  Discovery  of  North  America,  p.  8. 


NO.    IQ  NORSE   VISITS   TO    NORTH    AMERICA — BABCOCK  1 17 

the  entire  coast,  from  Nova  Scotia  to  Labrador."  3  An  intelligent 
white  native  of  Grand  Manan,  being  asked  in  my  presence  about  its 
great  tides,  at  once  mentioned  the  two  feet  or  three  feet  tides  of  the 
Magdalen  Islands,  which  he  had  visited — a  contrast  as  sharp  as  that 
between  the  sea-level  upper  coast  in  1003,  and  his  own  miles  of 
towering  cliffs.  The  latter  would  lose  little  in  impressiveness  by 
30  feet  or  even  60  feet  of  lowering ;  and  the  great  rush  of  water  up 
Straumfiord  (Grand  Manan  Channel)  along  their  northwestern 
front,  would  perhaps  be  a  little  greater  than  it  is  now,  but  certainly 
not  less. 

The  same  applies  to  the  series  of  more  than  picturesque,  deep, 
broad,  fiord-like  indentions,  mountain-sentineled,  with  lofty  islands 
out  before  them  or  in  them,  and  contours  for  the  most  part  necessarily 
unchanging  in  a  thousand  years,  which  characterize  the  upper  sea- 
coast  of  Maine,  beginning  with  Passamaquoddy  Bay.  For  Grand 
Manan,  lying  across  the  front  of  the  admirable  inner  expanse,  visible, 
as  Denys  says,  from  afar  at  sea,  and  necessarily  the  next  land  for  the 
explorers  as  they  crossed  the  Bay  of  Fundy  (heading  a  little  west  of 
north  after  rounding  the  nose  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  avoiding  the  shoals 
of  the  Admiralty  chart)  was  indeed  the  herald  of  a  new  order  of 
things.  It  is  no  wonder  that  even  these  Icelanders,  accustomed  to 
mountains  and  sea-currents,  were  deeply  impressed  by  the  change. 

Osgood's  book  on  the  Maritime  Provinces  wakens  to  something  of 
an  outburst  about  "  Grand  Manan,"  which  "  lies  in  the  mouth  of  the 
Bay  of  Fundy,  whose  giant  tides  sweep  imperiously  by  its  shores." 
This,  however,  would  not  now  apply  quite  perfectly  to  the  sloping, 
harbor-indented,  inhabited  southeastern  side,  with  its  outlying  fringe 
of  low  islands,  though  the  official  chart  shows  violent  tide  rips,  and  Dr. 
Fewkes  testifies  to  "  currents  of  great  power."  It  is  the  "  back  of  the 
island,"  as  they  call  it,  the  wilderness  side  (whence  you  may  look 
down  on  Campobello  near  Eastport  and  plainly  distinguish  many  of 
the  western  mainland  mountains),  which  enjoys  the  roughest  kisses 
of  the  racing  tide.  No  one  who  watches  the  gulls  sway  backward  and 
forward  in  great  fleets  in  the  rush  of  water  and  the  long  eddy  off  the 
north  point  by  the  fog  whistle,  or  keeps  company  a  bit  with  the  dulse- 
gatherers  on  the  slippery  rocks,  or  looks  down  from  the  southern 
cliffs  on  the  foam  about  their  bases,  or  considers  the  wave-carven 


1  The  following  figures  are  given  by  Verplanck  Colvin  in  his  Calculations  on 
"Plutarch's  Account  of  Ancient  Voyages  to  the  New  World,"  p.  3  :  Hopedale, 
Labrador  7  feet;  Anticosti,  5  feet;  St.  Johns,  N.  F.,  6  feet;  Trinity  Bay,  N. 
F.,  34  feet;  Kennebec,  9  feet;  Portland.  9.9  feet;  Boston,  n  feet;  New 
London,  3  feet;  New  York,  5  feet. 


Il8  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

"  Hole-in-the-wall,"  the  seated  "  Bishop,"  now  losing  his  outline,  and 
the  progressively  defaced  but  still  recognizable  "  Southern  Cross  "- 
no  one  who  has  ever  crossed  in  slightly  roughened  weather  the  dis- 
turbing inflow  of  the  western  strait,  or  stood  on  Todd's  Point  in  East- 
port,  the  most  easterly  bit  of  land  of  the  United  States,  and  tossed 
pebbles  into  the  hurry  of  the  twenty-five  feet  of  tide  that  chafes  the 
rocky  little  promontory — will  be  likely  to  question  Osgood's  descrip- 
tion, or  the  propriety  of  the  names  Norsemen-given.  Thus  Dr. 
Fewkes  *  reports  "  sometimes  the  moving  water  is  irresistible,  carry- 
ing everything  along"  with  it  under  the  brow  of  the  high  land." 

It  is  not  well  to  be  blindly  confident  in  such  matters,  and  any 
further  light  on  the  subject  will  be  most  welcome;  but  with  the  infor- 
mation at  hand,  after  much  endeavor,  this  identification  seems  to  me 
most  likely.  The  Flateybook's  account  is  badly  blurred  in  the  tell- 
ing, and  too  confusingly  blends  the  characteristics  of  Hop  and 
Straumfiord  (without  mentioning  the  former)  to  be  very  helpful ;  but 
even  in  it  we  have  the  outlying  island,  which  must  have  especially 
impressed  all  the  party;  and  the  description  of  the  wide  shallows 
left  by  the  ebbing  tide  belongs  peculiarly  to  the  lateral  branches  and 
upper  arms  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy.  It  could  not  well  be  otherwise, 
with  sixty-feet  daily  change  of  level  at  Monkton,  and  thirty-two  feet 
even  at  the  reversing  falls  of  St.  John.  The  Bay  of  Fundy  is  simply 
unique  in  these  respects  on  our  coast  and  Straumey  and  Straumfiord 
can  belong  nowhere  else  (see  note  10,  p.  178). 

Nearly  all  the  statements  of  the  trustworthy  and  little  defaced 
narrative  of  the  two  parallel  sagas  are  .exactly  borne  out  by  present 
facts.  They  came  to  "  a  fiord-cut  shore  "  of  mountain  valleys  filled 
with  water,  forming  bays,  and  these  in  due  succession  are  there  still. 
They  sailed  into  one  of  these  bays  or  fiords,  a  statement  twice  made, 
curiously  marking  as  already  stated  where  a  later  hand  has  interpo- 
lated the  apocryphal  episode  of  the  Gaelic  runners  Haki  and  Hsekia. 
"  They  sailed  through  the  firth  "  to  reach  this  bay,  which  was  included 
under  the  same  name,  for  we  read  later  that  "  in  the  spring  they  went 
into  Straumfiord  and  obtained  provisions  from  both  regions."  Of 
course  the  same  passage  has  to  be  made  still,  and  of  course  the  strait 
and  bay  are  connected ;  though  their  union  was  no  doubt  more  obvious 
then,  a  good  part  of  the  narrow  Campobello  island  and  Lubec  headland 
being  under  water.  These,  with  Eastport  island  and  other  neigh- 
boring territory  would  appear  as  minor  islets  in  a  somewhat  larger 


1 J.  W.  Fewkes:  A  Zoological  Reconnoissance  in  Grand  Manan.     American 
Naturalist,  May,  1890,  p.  424. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS   TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  119 

bay  than  now  remains,  then  opening  rather  freely  to  the  strait.  With 
regard  to  the  precise  farther  extension  of  Straumfiord,  as  they  under- 
stood it,  we  need  not  concern  ourselves ;  and  probably  they  did  not 
define  this,  any  more  than  the  average  man  of  lower  Manhattan  who 
mentions  and  sees  "  the  North  River  "  has  any  clear  idea  whether  its 
utmost  north  is  in  the  Adirondacks,  Vermont,  or  Canada.  They 
cared  mainly,  though  not  quite  wholly,  for  what  directly  affected  their 
welfare.  The  eggs  of  the  island,  ducks'  eggs  according  to  the  saga 
of  Eric,  birds'  eggs  according  to  that  of  Thorfinn  Karlsefni,  which 
is  a  little  the  better  in  this  instance,  are  a  case  in  point.  They  were 
probably  gulls'  eggs,  cormorants'  eggs,  and  those  of  the  eider-duck, 
black  duck,  and  other  water  fowl.  The  numerous  gulls  still  lay  some 
eggs  in  the  most  nearly  inaccessible  niches  of  the  cliffs  near  South 
Head.  Above  it  there  is  a  fine  level  table  land,  which  may  well  have 
been  fully  occupied  by  nesting  sea-fowl  in  the  times  before  the 
advent  of  men  (and  boys),  aided  in  destruction,  as  I  am  told,  by  a 
great  recent  multiplication  of  hungry  foxes.  It  is  not  surprising  that 
most  of  the  egg-laying  is  now  done  on  the  outlying  islets,  where  per- 
secution is  less  constant. 

Denys,1  about  1645,  after  defining  Passamaquoddy  Bay  as  "  a  cove 
of  great  circuit,"  says  "  Opposite  the  last  cove  and  some  distance  out 
at  sea,  occur  some  islands,  the  largest  of  which  is  called  the  island  of 
Menane.  It  can  be  seen  from  afar  as  one  comes  from  the  sea  .... 
On  all  these  islands  ....  there  is  a  great  number  of  all  kinds  of 
birds  which  go  there  in  the  spring  to  produce  their  young." 

It  was  the  proper  locality  for  such  finds.  Champlain  tells  us  of 
filling  a  cask  with  cormorant  eggs  on  Hope  Island,  and  of  an  almost 
unbelievable  number  of  birds,  including  ducks  of  three  different 
kinds,  on  the  Tusket  Islands,  all  about  the  mouth  of  Fundy  Bay.  Also 
a  little  later,  when  the  eggs  had  become  young  birds,  he  collected 
many  of  the  latter  on  the  Wolves,  only  a  short  distance  up  Fundy 
Bay  from  Grand  Manan.  It  is  not  certain  that  he  landed  on  the  latter, 
though  he  sailed  near  it  three  times  at  least  and  anchored  once 
in  Seal  Cove,  a  harbor  of  its  more  accessible  side,  with  almost  a 
shipwreck. 

Dr.  Nansen  doubts  the  plentiful  nesting  of  birds,  thinks  them  a 
Norwegian  reminiscence,  and  in  particular  excludes  gulls  and  auks. 
But  a  local  ornithologist  of  North  Head,  Grand  Manan,  who  is  as  well 
informed  on  the  subject  as  anybody  in  the  world,  gives  me  by  letter 


1  N.  Denys :  Description  of  the  Coast  of  North  America.    Ganong's  transl., 
pp.  no,  in. 


I2O  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

the  places  and  nesting  times  for  razor-billed  auks,  American  eider 
ducks  and  herring  gulls,  all  quite  near  him,  500  to  1,000  eggs  of  the 
last-named  being  still  collected  annually  from  one  islet  before  the 
brief  open  season  ends.  After  that  they  are  rigidly  preserved.  See 
also  Packard's  account  already  cited  of  the  multitudinous  nesting 
gannets  and  lesser  birds  on  rocky  islands  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence, 
and  Cartwright's  and  Cartier's  as  to  like  conditions  on  Funk  Island 
off  the  Newfoundland  Atlantic  shore. 

It  is  a  curious  but  easily  explainable  fact  that  our  white  people  have 
largely  followed  Indian  paths  and  settled  in  numbers  on  Indian 
village  sites.  The  same  conveniences,  obstacles  and  allurements  affect 
both  alike,  to  a  certain  point,  in  the  simpler  matters  of  existence. 
There  may  be  a  special  illustration  of  this  in  the  established  and 
ancient  habit  of  the  Passamaquoddy  Indians,  to  cross  and  recross 
the  strait  annually  in  their  canoes,  having  their  home  astride  of  it, 
so  to  speak,  and  obtaining  supplies  from  both  shores.  They  no  longer 
maintain  a  permanent  village  on  the  island,  having  withdrawn  for 
superstitious  reasons  (it  is  said)  but  the  habit  of  annual  or  more  fre- 
quent migrations  across  Grand  Manan  Channel  for  sport  and  food  is 
hardly  yet  abandoned.  The  Norsemen  did  likewise  and  for  like 
reasons,  the  resources  being  enumerated  in  the  saga.  It  is  perhaps 
a  case  where  the  usual  procedure  had  been  reversed,  the  Indian 
following  the  white  man,  for  that  region  seems  to  have  been  empty 
of  inhabitants  on  their  arrival  and  during  the  three  years  (once  inter- 
rupted) of  their  occupancy,  as  Strachey  declares  the  lower  course  of 
the  Susquehanna  to  have  been,  or  as  some  parts  of  Kentucky  perhaps 
were,  or  lower  Greenland  at  the  time  of  Eric's  settlement;  indeed, 
until  after  1300,  according  to  Dr.  Rink1  and  Dr.  Storm.  It  is  a 
common  phenomenon  in  the  case  of  a  sparse  native  population,  not 
deeply  anchored. 

The  Indians  of  the  region  at  the  time  of  our  first  knowledge  con- 
cerning them  were  the  Micmac  or  Souriquois  of  Nova  Scotia,  extend- 
ing west  of  the  head  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy  into  Northern  New  Bruns- 
wick, the  Malicete  or  Milicete  of  the  western  side  of  the  bay  and  the 
Passamaquoddy,  often  referred  to  on  Grand  Manan  as  the  American 
Indians.  The  Maguaquadevic  Indians  about  St.  George  and  the  neigh- 
boring lakes  are  the  border  tribe  of  Malicete  on  the  Passamaquoddy 
side.  There  is  said  to  be  a  portrait  of  one  in  the  Illustrated  London 
News  of  Sept.  5,  1863.  They  were  notable  for  at  least  one  dolmen- 


H.  A.  Rink:  Tales  and  Traditions  of  the  Eskimo,  p.  74. 


NO.    IQ  NORSE   VISITS   TO   NORTH    AMERICA — BABCOCK  121 

like  stone  erection  *  with  an  oval  roof-tablet,  supposed  to  have  been  set 
up  by  them  but  now  long  overturned,  and  perhaps  for  the  stone 
medallion  already  mentioned,  which  was  found  in  their  territory. 

Right  there  was  the  meeting  point  of  two  streams  of  Indian 
migration,  as  it  had  been  previously  the  border  of  Norse  occupancy, 
or  at  least  the  scene  of  daily  Norse  excursions  after  game.  The 
Micmac,  and  presumably  the  rather  more  nearly  related  Malicete, 
followed  down  the  St.  Lawrence  valley,  while  the  Penobscot  and 
their  kindred  the  Passamaquoddy  appear  to  have  worked  on  up  the 
Atlantic.  All  these  people  were  of  the  ancient  Algonquian  stem,  but 
the  two  branches  had  been  long  separated  when  fate  thus  drew  them 
again  together ;  for  even  yet  the  languages 2  of  the  Malicete  and 
Passamaquoddy  borderers  differ  considerably  and  the  Micmac  use  a 
very  different  pattern  of  canoe  (upturned  at  both  ends)  from  that  of 
the  "  American  Indians,"  although  occasionally  visiting,  from  near 
Digby,  the  same  island  of  Grand  Manan. 

We  do  not  know  when  this  first  meeting  took  place ;  but,  as  before 
emphasized,  the  Norse  date  (say  1003)  is  very  early.  If  we  suppose 
that  the  movement  down  the  St.  Lawrence  valley  had  not  yet  reached 
the  site  of  Monckton  nor  the  upper  waters  of  the  St.  John  and  that  the 
movement  up  the  Atlantic  coast  had  not  yet  passed  the  Kennebec, 
we  shall  have  the  requisite  Indian  vacuum.  There  is  nothing  to  sug- 
guest  that  any  Eskimo  ever  crossed  the  Maritime  Provinces  in  those 
days  or  skirted  their  eastern  border,  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
Beothuk  extended  so  far  down  the  coast,  and  we  cannot  assume  any 
other  native  occupants  for  this  corner  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy  shore. 

Any  one  who  will  mount  Battery  Hill  above  Eastport  and  look 
about  him  will  understand  "  there  were  mountains  around  " ;  the 
country  is  "  fine  "  still  and  the  hay  crop  both  on  the  mainland  and 
Grand  Manan — for  we  were  there  in  the  height  of  that  season — is 
really  remarkable.  They  must  have  found  excellent  grazing.  Excel- 
lent hunting,  too,  for  the  resources  are  not  yet  exhausted.  We  were 
told  of  a  moose  which  had  recently  visited  the  bay  shore  near  East- 
port  and  were  offered  in  that  city  the  skins  of  seals  shot  by  Indians 
very  recently  on  or  near  Grand  Manan.  A  whale  had  entered  within 
a  few  days  the  cove  of  that  name,  beside  which  we  were  lodged  on  the 
island,  just  as  another  came  into  the  hands  of  Thorfinn's  people,  to 
their  temporary  discomfiture.  They  would  be  likely  to  establish  them- 


*Jack:  Stone  Found  in  New  Brunswick.    Smithsonian  Rep.  for  1881,  before 
cited. 
2 Trans.  Royal  Soc.  Canada,  1904,  p.  20. 

9 


122  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

selves  there  or  near  the  northern  point  where  the  Indians  afterward 
had  their  annually  occupied  settlement,  and  close  at  hand  are  the 
cliffs,  on  one  of  which  they  caught  Thorhall  worshipping  Thor,  and 
over  which  they  may  have  cast  the  fragments  of  whale-flesh  "  on  the 
rocks." 

It  was  most  natural  that  Norsemen  should  be  deceived  by  the 
bountiful  mild  season  into  the  belief  that  they  need  not  provide 
against  winter,  since  they  felt  themselves  in  Leif's  country,  which  was 
said  to  be  like  Africa.  De  Monts'  colonists  on  an  island  of  the  St. 
Croix,  flowing  into  the  same  bay,  though  far  better  provided  in 
every  respect,  had  a  most  discouraging  and  even  ghastly  winter. 
Their  best  man,  Champlain,1  appositely  declares : 

It  would  be  very  difficult  to  ascertain  the  character  of  this  region  without 
spending  a  winter  in  it;  for  on  arriving  here  in  summer  everything  is  very 
agreeable,  in  consequence  of  the  woods,  fine  country  and  the  many  varieties  of 
good  fish  which  are  found  there.  There  are  six  months  of  winter  in  this 
country. 

The  summer  advantages  could  never  have  been  greater  than  when 
the  Norsemen  came.  When  winter  struck  them  and  the  game  had 
withdrawn  to  a  distance  and  the  snow  impeded  their  landward  travel, 
it  was  not  unnatural  that  they  should  shift  to  the  great  island,  where 
fish  and  amphibious  animals  were  closer  at  hand,  also  from  which 
the  land  animals  could  not  well  escape.  Moose  were  found  on  it 
in  the  boyhood  of  an  elderly  resident,  who  talked  with  me,  and  there 
are  still  some  deer,  though  partly  at  least  of  late  reintroduction. 
It  ought  to  have  been  easy  to  arrange  a  drive  of  animals  toward 
some  corner  of  the  cliffs  and  supply  themselves  with  meat;  and 
when  it  was  not  possible  to  fish  outside  there  were  (and  are)  trout 
in  the  brooks,  also  eels,  on  which  the  Indians  afterward  depended, 
in  a  string  of  ponds,  the  most  northerly  and  best  known  of  which  is 
in  the  wilderness  between  the  old  Indian  site  (now  a  hamlet  of 
fishers  and  dulse  gatherers)  and  the  prosperous  village  of  North 
Head.  There  could  be  no  lack  of  good  fresh  water. 

The  migration  to  the  island  seems  a  wise  move,  and  perhaps  did 
more  than  anything  else  to  carry  them  through  without  the  deaths  and 
disabling  maladies  of  Champlain's  companions.  Their  stock  also 
lived,  and  throve,  probably  on  birch-twigs,  dried  fish  (for  Norwegian 
cattle  are  said  to  make  the  best  of  such  winter  fare)  and  the  half  dry 
grasses  and  other  vegetable  survivals  of  the  springy  inland  hollows 
and  southeastern  marshes.  The  sea  never  freezes  there  and  the  tide 
would  always  wash  up  or  lay  bare  something  that  might  be  of  service. 

1  Voyages  of  Champlain.     Original  Narratives  of  Early  American  History. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  123 

But  at  the  best  it  would  be  a  disappointing  winter,  without  any  store 
of  grain  such  as  they  might  have  had  in  a  country  where  wild  rice  was 
plentiful  and  without  the  wine  which  Thorhall  angrily  celebrates 
between  lamentation  and  satire.  It  is  impossible  not  to  sympathize 
with  his  disillusion  in  the  matter  of  this  Wineland.  We  can  readily 
understand  his  disbelief  that  this  could  be  the  real  region  or*  even 
the  right  course  for  reaching  it.  Thorfinn  was  right,  and  matters 
would  not  have  been  mended  by  turning  into  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence, 
as  he  afterwards  found ;  but  it  was  all  experimental  at  first,  opinion 
against  opinion,  the  chief  trouble  being  that  Leif  had  given  them  a 
standard  which  was  true  for  a  more  southern  part  of  the  coast,  but 
very  misleading  and  disappointing  when  they  applied  it  to  northeast- 
ern Maine  and  the  neighboring  corner  of  New  Brunswick. 

These  occurrences  bring  out  saliently  the  fact  that  they  found  no 
"  unsown  wheat  "  nor  grapevines  at  Straumfiord  or  on  Straumey. 
They  do  not  profess  to  have  done  so.  There  is  not  the  least  entry 
indicating  either  plant,  or  its  grain  or  fruit,  except  the  interpolated 
story  of  Haki  and  Hsekia  who  ran  "  to  the  south,"  we  do  not  know 
how  far  (but  they  were  "  fleeter  than  deer  "),  and  brought  back  single 
specimens  only.  If  there  be  any  truth  in  this  episode,  and  if  it  belongs 
to  the  narrative  not  of  Leif  but  of  Thorfinn,  we  must  place  it  with  the 
explorations  of  that  first  summer  or  early  autumn.  Their  bunch  might 
probably  have  been  obtained  from  the  Penobscot  in  the  three  half 
days  allowed  them.  Champlain  found  a  few  large  grapes  and  grape- 
vines on  the  lower  Maine  coast,  but  none  anywhere  above  Portland 
lor  inland  in  Nova  Scotia.  According  to  Lescarbot,1  the  apothecary 
of  their  expedition  desired  to  transplant  Cape  Cod  grape  vines  to  the 
lovely  Annapolis  valley  of  the  latter  province,  which  had  none,  though 
one  would  expect  them  to  spring  up  there  spontaneously,  if  anywhere 
in  all  that  province. 

The  general  result  of  inquiries  among  Maine  people  is  that  wild 
grapes  of  proper  size  and  quality  for  table  use  or  wine-making  do 
not  ripen  in  that  State,  owing  to  the  shortness  of  the  summer  and 
the  severity  of  the  frosts,  so  as  to  benefit  anybody  appreciably  except 
the  botanists.  But  if  some  far  ranging  runners  brought  even  two 
or  three  back  to  Thorfinn  from  the  southward  these  might  confirm 
his  resolution  to  seek  in  that  direction  a  country  where  such  things 
abounded.  When  he  had  compromised  with  Thorhall  and  seen  him 
"  prepare  for  his  voyage  below  the  island  " — no  doubt  in  one  of  the 
southeastern  harbors  or  among  the  outlying  islets — Thorfinn  must 
have  wished  that  he  had  kept  on  at  first,  like  Leif,  into  warmer 

1  Lescarbot:  Nova  Francia.    Erondelle's  transl.,  pp.  101,  102. 


124  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

latitudes,  lived  in  comfort  and  held  the  whole  party  together.  This 
seems  to  be  his  worst  mistake,  and  Champlain  has  accounted  for 
it  abundantly. 

I  made  diligent  search  and  inquiry  on  Grand  Manan,  also  inquired 
a  little  in  Eastport,  and  it  seems  clear  that  there  are  no  grapes  worth 
mentioning  about  Passamaquoddy  Bay,  nor  indeed  anywhere  near  the 
Bay  of  Fundy.  Southern  New  England  is  their  farthest  northern 
home  in  quantities  and  of  size  to  be  useful. 

The  sea-fishing,  so  particularly  stated  in  the  saga,  is  still  the 
prime  resource  of  the  Passamaquoddy  region  including  Grand  Manan, 
In  fact,  except  hay-making,  there  is  hardly  another  resource  of  general 
value.  Two  or  three  thousand  people  of  the  island  live  by  fishing 
in  more  than  decent  comfort,  while  on  the  nearby  mainland  there  has 
been  built  up  at  Lubec  the  chief  American  center  of  one  branch  of  this 
industry. 

Considering  the  many  coincidences  of  the  present  and  past  facts 
with  the  items  of  the  saga  and  the  absence  of  any  real  objection,  it 
seems  that  Grand  Manan  and  Passamaquoddy  Bay  with  the  strait  be- 
tween them  may  be  accepted  provisionally  as  Straumey  and  Straum- 
fiord.  But  even  if  we  err  as  to  the  exact  places  named  in  the  saga,  it 
seems  practically  certain  that  these  were  not  far  from  the  sweeping 
tides  of  Fundy.  The  Icelanders  could  not  come  into  this  region  with- 
out observing  them,  and  how  could  they  pass  by,  giving  such  titles 
to  lesser  examples  of  the  same  kind  ?  The  verbal  distinction  between 
stream  and  current,  sometimes  suggested,  must  in  this  conection  be 
regarded  as  overstrained.  Besides,  the  official  chart  in  its  "  rips  " 
and  "  eddies  "  offers  an  abundance  of  "  stream,"  and  Dr.  Fewkes 
characterizes  them  clearly  in  his  zoological  paper  already  cited. 

It  may  be  well  to  consider  as  an  alternative,  Long  Island  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  mouth  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  and  the  narrow 
passage,  now  St.  Mary's  Bay,  between  it  and  the  mainland  of  Nova 
Scotia,  where  Champlain  found  a  violent  and  dangerous  current.  But 
the  island  seems  too  close  to  the  mainland  for  the  language  of  the 
saga,  since  the  passage  could  be  easily  and  promptly  made  at  any 
season ;  and  it  is  hardly  a  sufficiently  distinguishable  "  region." 

15.— THE  EXPEDITION  TO  HOP 

After  the  departure  of  Thorhall  the  Hunter,  and  Thorfinn's 
decision  "  to  proceed  southward  along  the  land  and  to  the  eastward," 
the  saga  says : 1 


1A.  M.  Reeves:    The  Finding  of  Wineland  the  Good.    Translation  of  saga 
continued.    See  footnotes. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  125 

It  is  now  to  be  told  of  Karlsefni,  that  he  cruised  southward  off  the  coast, 
with  Snorri  and  Biarni,  and  their  people.  They  sailed  for  a  long  time,  and 
until  they  came  at  last  to  a  river,  which  flowed  down  from  the  land  into  a 
lake,  and  so  into  the  sea.  There  were  great  bars  at  the  mouth  of  the  river, 
so  that  it  could  only  be  entered  at  the  height  of  the  flood-tide.  Karlsefni  and 
his  men  sailed  into  the  mouth  of  the  river  and  called  it  there  Hop.  They 
found  self-sown  wheat-fields  on  the  land  there,  wherever  there  were  hollows, 
and  wherever  there  was  hilly  ground,  there  were  vines.  Every  brook  there 
was  full  of  fish.  They  dug  pits,  on  the  shore  where  the  tide  rose  highest,  and 
when  the  tide  fell,  there  were  halibut  in  the  pits.  There  were  great  numbers 
of  wild  animals  of  all  kinds  in  the  woods.  They  remained  there  half  a  month, 
and  enjoyed  themselves,  and  kept  no  watch.  They  had  their  live-stock  with 
them. 

Now  one  morning  early,  when  they  looked  about  them,  they  saw  nine  skin- 
canoes,  and  staves  were  brandished  from  the  boats,  with  a  noise  like  flails,  and 
they  were  revolved  in  the  same  direction  in  which  the  sun  moves.  Then  said 
Karlsefni  "What  may  this  betoken?"  Snorri's  son  Thorbrand,  answers  him: 
"  It  may  be  this  is  a  signal  of  peace,  wherefore  let  us  take  a  white  shield  and 
display  it."  And  thus  they  did.  Thereupon  the  strangers  rowed  toward  them, 
and  went  upon  the  land,  marvelling  at  those  whom  they  saw  before  them 
....  [For  description  see  p.  143  herein]  and  then  rowed  away,  and  to  the 
southward  around  the  point. 

Karlsefni  and  his  followers  had  built  their  huts  above  the  lake,  some  dwell- 
ings were  near  the  mainland,  and  some  near  the  lake.  Now  they  remained 
there  that  winter.  No  snow  whatever  came  there,  and  all  of  their  live-stock 
lived  by  grazing.  And  when  spring  opened,  they  discovered,  early  one  morn- 
ing, a  great  number  of  skin-canoes  rowing  from  the  south  past  the  cape,  so 
numerous,  that  it  looked  as  if  coals  had  been  scattered  broadcast  out  before 
the  bay ;  and  on  every  boat  staves  were  waved.  Thereupon  Karlsefni  and  his 
people  displayed  their  shields,  and  when  they  came  together,  they  began  to 
barter  with  each  other.  Especially  did  the  strangers  wish  to  buy  red  cloth, 
for  which  they  offered  in  exchange  peltries  and  quite  grey  skins.  They  also 
desired  to  buy  swords  and  spears,  but  Karlsefni  and  Snorri  forbade  this.  In 
exchange  for  perfect  unsullied  skins,  the  Skrellings  would  take  red  stuff  a 
span  in  length,  which  they  would  bind  around  their  heads.1  So  their  trade 
went  on  for  a  time,  until  Karlsefni  and  his  people  began  to  grow  short  of 
cloth,  when  they  divided  it  into  such  narrow  pieces,  that  it  was  not  more 
than  a  fingers  breadth  wide,  but  the  Skrellings  still  continued  to  give  just  as 
much  as  before,  or  more. 

It  so  happened  that  a  bull,  which  belonged  to  Karlsefni  and  his  people,  ran 
out  from  the  woods,  bellowing  loudly.  This  so  terrified  the  Skrellings,  that 
they  sped  out  to  their  canoes,  and  then  rowed  away  to  the  southward  along 
the  coast.  For  three  weeks  nothing  more  was  seen  of  them.  At  the  end  of  this 
.  time,  however,  a  great  multitude  of  Skrelling  boats  was  discovered  approaching 
from  the  south,  as  if  a  stream  were  pouring  down,  and  all  their  staves  were 
waved  in  a  direction  contrary  to  the  course  of  the  sun,  and  the  Skrellings  were 
all  uttering  loud  cries.  Thereupon  Karlsefni  and  his  men  took  red  shields  and 


1 W.  H.  Dall :  The  Tribes  of  the  Extreme  Northwest,  p.  238.  Exact  parallel 
in  early  trading.  See  also  as  to  red  headwear  in  southern  New  England,  a  later 
quotation  from  Champlain. 


126  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

displayed  them.  The  Skrellings  sprang  from  their  boats,  and  they  met  then, 
and  fought  together.  There  "was  a  fierce  shower  of  missiles,  for  the  Skrel- 
lings had  war-slings."  Karlsefni  and  Snorri  observed,  that  the  Skrellings 
raised  up  on  poles  a  great  ball-shaped  body,  almost  the  size  of  a  sheep's  belly, 
and  nearly  black  in  color,  and  this  they  hurled  from  the  pole  upon  the  land 
above  Karlsefni's  followers,  and  it  made  a  frightful  noise,  where  it  fell. 
Whereat  a  great  fear  seized  upon  Karlsefni,  and  all  his  men,  so  that  they 
could  think  of  nought  but  flight  ....  for  it  seemed  to  them,  that  the  troop  of 
Skrellings  was  rushing  towards  them  from  every  side,  and  they  did  not  pause, 
until  they  came  to  certain  jutting  crags  where  they  offered  a  stout  resistance. 
Freydis  came  out,  and  seeing  that  Karlsefni  and  his  men  were  fleeing,  she 
cried :  "  Why  do  ye  flee  from  these  wretches,  such  worthy,  men  as  ye,  when, 
me-seems,  ye  might  slaughter  them  like  cattle  ?  Had  I  but  a  weapon,  methinks, 
I  would  fight  better  than  any  one  of  you."  They  gave  no  heed  to  her  words. 
Freydis  sought  to  join  them,  but  lagged  behind,  for  she  was  not  hale;  she 
followed  them,  however,  into  the  forest,  while  the  Skrellings  pursued  her ; 
she  found  a  dead  man  in  front  of  her ;  this  was  Thorbrand,  Snorri's  son, 
his  skull  cleft  by  a  flat  stone ;  his  naked  sword  lay  beside  him ;  she  took  it 
up,  and  prepared  to  defend  herself  with  it.  The  Skrellings  then  approached 
her,  whereupon  she  stripped  down  her  shift,  and  slapped  her  breast  with  the 
naked  sword.  At  this  the  Skrellings  were  terrified  and  ran  down  to  their 
boats,  and  rowed  away.  Karlsefni  and  his  companions,  however,  joined  her 
and  praised  her  valor.  Two  of  Karlsefni's  men  had  fallen,  and  four  of  the 
Skrellings.  Karlsefni's  party  had  been  overpowered  by  dint  of  superior  num- 
bers. They  now  returned  to  their  dwellings,  and  bound  up  their  wounds,  and 
weighed  carefully  what  throng  of  men  that  could  have  been,  which  had  seemed 
from  the  land ;  it  now  seemed  to  them,  that  there  could  have  been  but  the 
one  party,  that  which  came  from  the  boats,  and  that  the  other  troop  must 
have  been  an  ocular  delusion.  The  Skrellings,  moreover,  found  a  dead  man, 
and  an  axe  lay  beside  him.  One  of  their  number  picked  up  the  axe,  and 
struck  at  a  tree  with  it,  and  one  after* another  [they  tested  it],  and  it  seemed 
to  them  to  be  a  treasure,  and  to  cut  well;  then  one  of  their  people  hewed  at 
a  stone  and  broke  the  axe ;  it  seemed  to  him  of  no  use  since  it  would  not 
withstand  stone,  so  he  cast  it  down. 

It  now  seemed  clear  to  Karlsefni  and  his  people  that  although  the  country 
thereabouts  was  attractive,  their  life  would  be  one  of  constant  dread  and 
turmoil  by  reason  of  [the  hostility  of]  those  who  dwelt  there  before,  so  they 
forthwith  prepared  to  leave,  and  determined  to  return  to  their  own  country. 
They  sailed  to  the  northward  off  the  coast,  and  found  five  Skrellings,  clad  in 
skin-doublets,  lying  asleep  near  the  sea.  There  were  vessels  beside  them, 
containing  animal  marrow,  mixed  with  blood.  Karlsefni  and  his  company 
concluded  that  they  must  have  been  banished  from  their  own  land.  They 
put  them  to  death.  They  afterwards  found  a  cape,  upon  which  there  was  a 
great  number  of  animals,  and  this  cape  looked  as  if  it  were  one  cake  of  dung, 
by  reason  of  the  animals  which  lay  there  during  the  winter.  They  now 
arrived  again  at  Straumfiord 

It  will  be  instructive  to  consider  this  return  journey  first  and  in 
reverse  order.  The  nearest  point  down  the  coast  from  Straumey 
recorded  by  the  saga  is  of  course  the  headland  covered  by  the  animals. 
No  doubt  they  were  seals,  for  no  land  animals  would  congregate  in 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS   TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  I2/ 

such  numbers  in  such  a  place.  At  the  mouth  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy  on 
one  of  the  Tusket  Islands  Champlain  in  1604  "  found  the  shore 
completely  covered  with  sea  wolves,"  his  name  for  the  queer  creatures, 
which  still  are  fairly  common  in  the  region.  It  is  not  surprising  that 
Thorfinn  should  find  a  little  below  Grand  Manan  what  the  Frenchman 
afterward  found  a  little  above.  But  this  would  be  a  much  more 
likely  spectacle  in  the  cold  waters  of  the  upper  Maine  coast  than 
farther  southward.  Any  one  of  the  jutting  rock-islands  or  pro- 
montories north  of  Casco  Bay  might  probably  answer. 

The  three  Skrellings  were  found  before  finding  the  seal  as  the  party 
came  northward,  so  they  must  have  been  farther  south.  "  Lying 
asleep  near  the  sea  "  gives  the  idea  of  a  smooth  beach,  and  would 
belong  rather  to  southern  or  middle  Maine  or  some  lower  point, 
though  not  inevitably.  Their  "  food  "  was  perhaps  rather  a  relish, 
for  Strachey  tells  us :  "  Nottowene  groweth  as  our  bents  do  in 
meadows,  the  seed  of  which  is  not  unlike  to  rye  though  somewhat 
smaller ;  these  they  use  for  a  dainty  bread  buttered  with  deer  suet,"  3 
This  may  be  the  earliest  record  of  buttered  rice  cakes. 

Their  costume  is  more  to  the  present  purpose,  buckskin  jackets 
being  Indian  attire  wherever  not  discarded  for  coolness.  Champlain 
observed  in  this  matter  an  interesting  distinction  between  the  regions 
above  and  below  Cape  Ann — the  former  being  chilled  by  the  northern 
current,  the  latter  warmed  by  the  Gulf  Stream,  so  that  the  waters  of 
the  two  shores  of  the  projecting  land  are  still  recognized  by  residents 
as  of  different  temperatures.  Writing  of  Nauset  and  other  more 
southern  points  visited  in  i6o5,2  he  says;  "  All  these  people  from  the 
Island  Cape  (Cape  Ann)  wear  neither  robes  nor  furs  except  very 
rarely,  moreover  their  robes  are  made  of  grasses  and  hemp,  scarcely 
covering  the  body  and  coming  down  only  to  their  thighs."  Ordinarily, 
he  reports,  they  wore  only  "  a  small  piece  of  leather,  so  likewise  the 
women,  with  whom  it  comes  down  a  little  lower  behind  than  the  men, 
all  the  rest  of  the  body  being  naked."  The  next  year  at  Chatham 
Harbor  in  this  region  "  some  five  or  six  hundred  savages  "  came  to 
see  him,  "  all  naked  except "  that  "  small  piece  of  doe  or  sealskin. 
The  women  are  also  naked.  They  wear  their  hair  carefully  combed 
and  twisted.  Their  bodies  are  well  proportioned,  both  men  and 
women,  and  their  skin  olive-colored."  He  has  already  told  of  the 
robes  worn  in  July  at  Saco  near  the  least  chilly  corner  of  Maine,  but 


1  W.  Strachey:  The  Historic  of  Travaile  into  Virginia,  p.  118. 

2  Voyages  of  Champlain.     Original  Narratives  of  Early  American  History, 
P-  73- 


128  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

of  course  above  the  Cape,  which  were  all  the  villagers  had  to  sell, 
"  for  they  preserve  only  such  furs  as  they  need  for  their  garments." 
He  also  mentions  "  robes  and  furs,"  and  no  nakedness,  at  points  far- 
ther north.  It  is  like  comparing  the  costumes  of  a  temperate  and  a 
tropical  zone,  though  of  course  the  real  difference  was  much  less. 

It  is  not  denied  that  Verrazano  tells  of  visits  by  deerskin  clad 
"  Kings "  in  Narragansett  Bay,  nor  that  Champlain  says  of  the 
Nauset  women  "  When  they  came  to  see  us  they  wore  robes  which 
were  open  in  front.  I  saw  among  other  things  a  girl  with  her  hair 
very  neatly  dressed  with  a  red-colored  skin  and  bordered  on  the  upper 
part  with  little  shell  beads."  But  full  dress  is  never  a  daily  habit 
at  all  hours  nor  a  measure  of  climatic  requirements;  and  a  jacket 
open  in  front  plus  a  bead-trimmed  turban,  with  nothing  more  above 
the  waist,  can  hardly  be  called  overwarm  in  the  way  of  a  visiting 
costume. 

The  precise  border-line  between  the  regions  of  habitual  clothing 
and  approximate  nudity  (for  everyday  wear)  may  have  shifted  a  little 
during  the  six  centuries  between  the  dates  of  Thorrmn  and  Champlain 
by  reason  of  the  descent  and  dwindling  of  Cape  Cod  and  possible  con- 
sequent changes  in  the  course  and  interaction  of  oceanic  currents. 
But  there  does  not  seem  to  have  been  much  difference  during  nearly 
four  centuries  that  have  followed ;  and  probably  there  was  little 
before.  Whether  the  New  Hampshire  and  lower  Maine  coast  were 
a  little  warmer  or  a  little  chillier  in  1003  than  in  1605  or  1911,  it  is 
altogether  likely  that  the  buckskin-shirted  victims  died  above  Cape 
Ann,  though  perhaps  below  the  Kennebec.  At  a  later  period  this 
would  be  the  place  to  find  Almachouqui  Algonquians ;  and  perhaps 
this  is  the  best  guess  we  can  make  about  them ;  but  it  remains  a  guess 
only. 

On  the  earlier  downward  passage  to  Hop,  Thorfinn  would  seem 
to  have  briefly  followed  the  coast,  say  as  far  as  Mount  Desert,  and 
then  struck  across  the  Gulf  of  Maine,  thus  sailing  chiefly  on  a  more 
eastern  course  than  if  he  had  followed  the  shore  all  the  way.  This 
crossing  might  be  to  or  around  Cape  Cod,  or,  less  probably,  to  lower 
Maine.  Birds  in  migration  during  two  seasons,1  and  other  signs  not 
to  be  missed  by  the  watchfulness  of  a  very  well-skilled  early  naviga- 
tor, would  have  set  him  on  that  more  direct  water-road.  Even  the  brief 
tracing  of  the  nearer  shore  would  not  necessarily  be  carried  into 
practice,  for  he  had  nothing  to  gain  by  it,  aiming  so  far  away. 


1  See  account  by  Columbus  of  his  first  voyage  for  the  aid  thus  given  the 
Genoese  in  finding  the  Azores. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK    .  1 29 

The  choice  of  routes  has  always  existed,  and  was  promptly  made 
known  to  every  explorer.  Hudson  seems  to  have  cut  across  from  the 
Penobscot  to  Nantucket.  Champlain  tells  us  of  the  expedition  in 
1606:  "It  was  decided  to  continue  the  voyage  along  the  coast,"3 
but  "  it  would  have  been  much  better  to  cross  from  where  we  were 
directly  to  Mallebarre  (Nauset),  the  route  being  already  known,  and 
then  use  our  time  in  exploring  as  far  as  the  fortieth  degree  or  farther 
south."  How  they  learned  that  route  is  not  clear,  for  their  previous 
voyage  to  and  from  the  same  point  had  been  strictly  along  shore  or 
from  headland  to  headland.  But  they  had  at  least  the  same  means  of 
information  as  Thorfinn,  and  the  course  suggested  by  Champlain  is 
almost  exactly  one  which  we  have  conjectured  for  the  earlier  navi- 
gator, though  a  change  of  angle  would  have  taken  him  to  Boston 
instead,  or  even  to  Portsmouth. 

There  is  another  consideration  which  perhaps  has  never  before 
been  presented.  The  natives  who  fought  with  them  at  Hop  did  not 
attack  them  at  Straumfiord  after  their  return.  There  is  no  indication 
that  they  were  followed  at  all.  Doubtless  they  could  not  be,  if  they 
sailed  out  of  sight  at  the  start,  afterward  passing  only  from  one 
headland  to  another.  But  if  the  voyage  had  been  for  a  hundred  miles 
only,  the  savages  would  have  found  them  out  and  tried  to  take 
revenge — a  matter  of  imperative  duty  and  personal  enjoyment  for 
most  wild  Indians. 

There  is  another  clue.  The  saga,  as  already  quoted,  relates  a 
subsequent  expedition  of  Thorfinn  with  one  ship,  around  Cape  Breton 
Island  to  a  river  flowing  from  east  to  west,  where  Thorvald,  the  helms- 
man was  slain  by  a  "  one  footer  "  or  "  Uniped."  We  are  told  "  They 
concluded  that  the  mountains  of  Hop  and  those  which  they  had  now 
found  formed  one  chain  (or  were  the  same)/'  and  this  appeared  to 
be  so,  because  they  were  about  an  equal  distance  removed  from 
Straumfiord  in  either  direction.  They  intended  to  explore  all  the 
mountains,  those  which  were  at  Hop,  and  those  which  they  discovered. 
They  sailed  back  and  passed  the  third  winter  at  Straumfiord."  The 
intention  to  "  explore  all  the  mountains "  is  not  in  the  Saga  of 
Thorfinn  Karlsefni,  but  in  the  parallel  Saga  of  Eric  the  Red  (A.  M. 
557)  >  as  given  by  Mr.  Reeves's  notes,  and  the  estimate  of  equal  dis- 
tance is  in  the  former  only.  It  sounds  authentic,  but  merely  as  a  sailor's 
guess. 

It  must  mean  sailing  distance,  for  they  were  not  given  to  guessing 
at  overland  air-lines,  which  they  would  never  follow ;  but  measured 
by  "  doegr  "  of  water  travel.  Without  knowing  which  river  is  meant, 

1  Voyages  of  Champlain,  Orig.  Narr.  of  Early  Amer.  Hist.,  p.  81. 


I3O  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

and  just  how  loosely  they  made  the  comparison,  it  is  impossible  to 
estimate  more  nearly.  The  application  of  the  distance  measure  as  a 
means  of  identification  is  not  obvious  unless  the  elevations  were 
thought  of  as  visible  from  both  sides  of  a  peninsula.  This  would  put 
Hop  in  Nova  Scotia  as  Dr.  Storm  tried  to  do ;  but  the  climate,  the 
absence  of  large  wild  grapes  and  the  fact  that  Hop  was  a  long  way 
below  Straumey  (Grand  Manan)  all  forbid.  Moreover  the  highest 
elevations  in  Nova  Scotia,  the  Cobequid  hills,  though  doubtless  visible 
from  the  Gulf  side,  have  only  a  maximum  height  of  1 100  feet ;  and  are 
a  long  way  from  the  Atlantic  shore,  with,  also  in  part,  the  upper 
arms  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy  between.  If  we  carry  the  mountains  in 
question  up  to  the  lower  ridge  of  the  western  horn  of  Cape  Breton, 
we  pack  nearly  all  the  sites  of  the  saga  impossibly  near  to  each  other, 
we  dispense  with  the  distinctive  violent  currents  of  Straumey  and 
the  pleasing  conditions  of  Hop  and  we  make  the  interval  so  slight 
that  the  party  might  have  walked  easily^  across  or  sent  messengers, 
and  could  not  possibly  have  felt  themselves  astray  in  a  remote  and 
dangerous  region  as  they  did.  Also  the  Uniped  or  his  friends  would 
have  followed  them ;  but  nobody  menaced  them  on  Straumey  nor  in 
their  mainland  home  on  the  shore  of  the  bay  beyond  Straumfiord,  so 
far  as  we  know.  It  must  not  be  overlooked,  however,  that  the  state- 
ment of  distances  from  Straumfiord  occurs  in  one  version  only  and 
may  be  a  conjectural  explanation  by  some  saga-man  of  several  cen- 
turies later. 

Of  course  there  must  have  been  something  unique  about  this  one- 
footer,  who  fled  so  fast  after  shooting  so  deadly.  Perhaps  he  was  a 
wandering  Eskimo  with  a  kayak  hidden  in  that  "  creek  "  where  he 
vanished.  If  he  sprang  into  that  odd  little  craft  and  shot  out  of  sight 
with  the  tapering  rear  end  of  the  boat  reaching  back  from  his  waist, 
and  if  this  were  their  first  clear  view  of  him  after  woodland  glimpses, 
the  picture  might  have  impressed  them  in  that  way,  making  them 
hurry  out  of  a  land  of  sorcery  and  death. 

Lescarbot,1  after  describing  a  kayak  as  "  all  covered  with  leather  " 
except  "  one  hole  in  the  midst  where  the  man  putteth  himself  on  his 
knees,"  adds  very  appositely :  "  I  believe  that  the  fables  of  the  sirens 
and  mermaids  come  from  the  dunces  esteeming  that  they  were  fishes, 
both  men  and  women."  In  other  words,  he  recognized  that  the  rear 
part  of  the  kayak  might  well  be  taken  for  a  single  member,  a  tail. 
If  an  Eskimo  thus  ensconced  may  be  taken  for  a  merman,  why  not 
for  a  "  one-footer?  "  At  least,  I  am  not  aware  of  any  other  explana- 
tion which  is  equally  reasonable. 


Nova  Francia.     Erondelle's  transl.,  p.  231. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS   TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  13! 

It  is  interesting  to  follow  these  early  visitors  in  even  their  slight 
exploration  of  the  shore  of  that  vast  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  which,  with 
the  Uniped,  so  weighed  on  their  disquieted  fancy ;  but  we  cannot 
gather  anything  as  to  distance  or  previous  locality  more  than  has 
been  stated  already.  The  calculation  or  conjecture  simply  bears  out 
the  statement  that  "  they  sailed  for  a  long  time  "  in  their  previous 
nearly  equal  journeying  across  the  Gulf  of  Maine. 

The  commendations  of  their  second  Wineland  home — "  the  country 
was  attractive,"  "  every  brook  was  full  of  fish,"  "  no  snow  whatever," 
and  the  like — may  be  taken  with  a  slight  allowance  for  hyperbole  in 
matters  of  detail.  Why  should  not  these  Norsemen  speak  a  little 
loosely  in  praising,  as  well  as  other  people?  Many  brooks,  if  not 
all,  are  really  crowded  with  some  kinds  of  fish  in  the  spawning  season 
along  the  coast.  Yellow  perch  were  formerly  dipped  out  of  them 
in  quantities  east  of  the  Chesapeake ;  herring  are  often  snagged 
by  the  hook  or  scooped  up  with  the  dip-net  when  they  throng  the 
water  at  the  Little  Falls  of  the  Potomac,  and  alewives  are  said  to 
run  in  multitudes  up  Narragansett  Bay.  The  special  method  of 
catching  flounders  (which  hug  the  bottom)  in  pits  between  tides  is 
said  by  Munro's  History  of  Bristol *  to  be  still  in  practice  there.  As 
to  the  game,  I  was  told  of  several  recent  instances  of  deer  being 
seen  near  Mount  Hope,  and  the  region  must  once  have  been  a  hunter's 
paradise.  There  are  years  when,  by  all  accounts,  hardly  any  snow 
falls  in  this  neighborhood,  and  Thorfmn  may  have  happened  on  one 
of  these. 

The  winter-grazing  of  stock  has  been  claimed  in  one  of  the  sagas  for 
an  especially  bountiful  field — the  prize  of  a  murderous  controversy— 
in  Iceland  itself.  More  precisely,  a  recent  writer2  bears  witness: 

The  Faroe  Islands,  surrounded  by  rocky  barriers  and  dangerous  whirlpools, 
are  like  those  dragon-guarded  islands  of  fable  upon  which,  when  the  circle  of 
enchantment  was  passed,  the  invader  found  pleasant  gardens  and  balmy  airs. 
....  The  air  of  the  islands  is  mild  the  year  round,  so  that  even  in  winter  cattle 
and  sheep  are  herded  without  shelter,  and  snow  so  seldom  lies  upon  the  land 
that  the  grazing  is  practically  uninterrupted. 

From  this  to  the  "  absolutely  no  snow  "  of  the  saga  is  no  great 
interval.  Perhaps  in  all  such  cases  we  should  suspect  a  slight 
involuntary  "  diminution  of  the  record." 

This  winter  grazing,  as  a  ranchman  of  the  far  northwest  informs 
me,  is  practised  even  in  Alberta,  where  the  weather  varies  quite 
suddenly  from  Arctic  severity  to  a  very  trying  heat  and  moisture 

1  W.  H.  Munro  :  History  of  Bristol,  R.  I.,  p.  22. 
2E.  M.  Bacon:  Henry  Hudson,  p.  112. 


132  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

On  Nantucket,  which  is  bleak  in  winter,  sheep  are  often  left  thus 
uncared  for,  as  well  as  on  both  sides  of  Narragansett  Bay,  according 
to  the  correspondence  appended  to  Rafn's  huge  Latin  book.  Also, 
the  Chincoteague  ponies  of  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  shore  have 
supported  themselves  independently  for  much  more  than  a  century, 
though  there  is  some  zero  weather  in  most  winters,  if  only  for  a  day 
or  two.  The  question  is  one  of  food  rather  than  temperature,  and 
there  is  usually  food  for  ruminants  in  the  marshes.  When  the  coast 
line  of  Narragansett  and  Massachusetts  Bays  was  lower  than  now  we 
may  suppose  that  marsh-grazing  was  much  more  plentiful. 

There  is  a  plain  intention  in  this  part  of  the  saga  to  contrast  the 
conditions  of  their  northern  and  southern  Wineland  homes  in  the 
months  that  try  all  resources.  Champlain *  does  the  same  as  between 
the  same  localities.  Besides  his  statement  that  no  one  would  foresee 
the  severity  of  the  St.  Croix  winter  from  the  summer  of  that  region 
(compare  with  the  saga)  he  says  that  the  winter  life  of  the  few 
Indians  there  "  seems  a  very  miserable  one."  He  tells  of  really 
murderous  hardships  endured  by  his  own  companions.  But  at 
Nauset  he  was  told  that  the  snow  fell  only  to  the  depth  of  a  foot  or 
less,  and  he  adds  ;  "  I  conclude  that  this  region  is  of  moderate  tempera- 
ture and  the  winter  not  severe."  Now  the  Nauset  Indians  were  close 
neighbors  and  allies  of  those  about  Massachusetts  and  Narragansett 
Bays  and  their  conditions  must  have  been  nearly  identical. 

As  to  the  delightfulness  of  the  Narragansett  country  we  have 
Verrazano's  panegyric  of  nearly  a  hundred  years  before,  which  de- 
clares that  it  will  produce  anything;  also  the  commendation  of  many 
later  writers  and  the  plain  testimony  of  the  land  and  water  themselves. 

Thorfinn  and  his  party  met  their  first  grape-vines  and  wild  grain 
at  Hop,  so  far  as  we  know,  for  we  can  hardly  count  the  plants  which 
Haki  and  Hsekia  may  have  reached  in  their  dubious  southern  excur- 
cion.  The  impression  was  great  and  immediate.  We  are  told  "  They 
found  self-sown  wheat  fields  on  all  the  land  there  wherever  there 
were  hollows  and  wherever  there  was  hilly  ground  there  were  vines." 
Not  grain  nor  grapes  at  that  season,  for  it  was  spring,  and  no  inter- 
polator has  been  at  work  here.  The  statement  would  have  fitted  many 
places  in  southern  New  England,  so  far  as  the  vines  are  concerned, 
and  one  place  about  as  well  as  another.  As  already  explained,  it  would 
not  fit  any  more  northern  coast  region. 

Three  grains  have  been  called  "  wheat "  in  America,  which  are 
not  really  so.  Prof.  Fernald's z  Elymus  anrenarius  (lyme  grass,  strand 

1  Voyages  of  Champlain  :  Orig.  Narr.  of  Early  Amer.  Hist.,  pp.  25-96. 
'Fernald:  The  Plants  of  Vinland.    Rhodora,  Feb.  1910. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  133 

wheat,  or  "  strand  oats  ")  has  had  many  names.  It  is  a  botanical 
curiosity  in  northern  New  England  and  the  Maritime  Provinces ; 
rather  plentiful  along  the  sea  shore  of  Labrador ;  and  perhaps  even 
yet  used  a  little  in  Iceland.  But  why  should  these  northern  people 
announce  as  a  novelty  and  a  godsend  what  they  already  had  at  home? 
Besides,  it  will  not  go  with  the  grapes  at  all.  And  to  make  Labrador 
do  duty  for  Wineland  as  well  as  Helluland  and  Markland  is  really 
asking  too  much  of  a  poor  and  distressful  region. 

Maize,  or  our  Indian  corn,  originated — according  to  Dr.  Harsh - 
berger's  very  careful  and  valuable  investigations ' — in  the  uplands  of 
central  Mexico ;  whence  it  has  been  carried  north  and  south  a  long 
way,  everywhere  calling  for  the  care  of  man.  Dr.  Rafn  supposed  that 
it  might  have  been  found  wild  in  Rhode  Island,  but  that  is  out  of  the 
question.  Leon,  Mexico,  would  be  the  nearest  possible  point.  A 
grain  accidentally  dropped  by  us  may  spring  up,  and  if  it  be  early  in 
the  season,  may  produce  grain,  but  that,  if  it  falls  again,  will  die  dur- 
ing the  winter.  This  is  true  from  Maryland  northward,  at  the  least ; 
for  Zea  mays  is  an  upland  tropical  exotic  and  helpless  among  us  while 
untended. 

It  may  have  reached  and  passed  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  for  Lescarbot 2 
speaks  of  agriculture  as  formerly  practised  by  the  Micmac.  It  was 
doubtless  receding  when  found  by  Champlain3  at  Saco  in.  1605,  for 
on  the  Kennebec  the  Indians  had- told  him  of  its  cultivation  along  that 
part  of  the  coast  a  little  earlier.  There  is  the  same  story  to  tell 
of  Hochelaga4  (Montreal),  where  Cartier  found  it  plentifully  in 
1535,  yet  whence  it  was  driven,  before  the  next  European  visit,  with 
its  Huron  planters.  The  predatory  habits  of  idler  savages  counted 
for  more  than  the  rigor  of  the  climate  in  fixing  boundaries.  Yet  there 
is  no  doubt  that  it  needs  a  hot  and  rather  long  summer  to  really 
thrive  and  yield  well. 

One  would  hardly  expect  it  to  be  called  "  wheat,"  but  men  often 
name  by  analogy,  not  by  supposed  identity;  as  in  the  familiar  in- 
stances of  the  tulip-tree  "  poplar/'  our  robin,  which  is  a  migratory 
thrush,  the  ruffed  grouse,  which  is  a  partridge  in  some  States  and  a 
pheasant  in  others,  and  the  "  bobwhite,"  which  is  called  a  quail  wher- 


!J.  W.  Harshberger:  Maize,  A  Botanical  and  Economical  Study.  University 
of  Pennsylvania  Publications,  1893. 

2  Nova  Francia  :    Erondelle's  transl. 

3  Voyages  of  Champlain,  Orig.  Narr.  of  Early  Amer.  Hist.,  p.  60. 

*He  had  previously  seen  the  grain,  as  food,  near  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence and  called  it  "millet  as  large  as  peas."  A  little  earlier  he  had  met  the 
wild  rice  on  the  Southern  Shore  of  the  Gulf,  noting  that  it  was  ''like  rye." 


134  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.     59 

ever  it  is  not  (more  accurately)  called  a  partridge.     Similarly  Cartier 
called  this  grain  millet. 

So  Strachey's  *  Virginia  tells  us : 

The  natives  here  have  a  kind  of  wheat  which  they  call  poketawes,  as  the  West 
Indians  call  the  same  maize.  The  form  of  it  is  a  man's  tooth,  somewhat  thicker, 
for  the  preparing  of  the  ground  for  which  they  use  this  manner.  He  then 
proceeds  to  describe  girdling  the  forest  trees,  killing  the  roots  with  fire,  grubbing 
up  the  dead  stumps  next  year,  planting  three  or  five  grains  of  zvheat  and  one  or 
three  of  beans  in  the  ashes  and  decayed  wood,  the  hills  being  four  or  five 
feet  apart,  weeding  with  hoes,  hilling  and  the  final  processes  of  pulling  and 
preparation,  with  a  word  also  for  green  roasting  ears. 

Champlain  more  briefly  describes  the  same  process  in  New  England, 
specifying  some  additional  tools. 

So  "  corn  "  may  be  "  wheat  " ;  but  the  real  crux  is  in  the  word 
"  unsown,"  evidently  meaning  wild,  spontaneous.  Dr.  Fiske  thought 
the  Norsemen,  seeing  the  small  amount  of  work  required,  considered 
it  practically  so ;  but  the  above  abstract  of  procedure  ought  to  dispose 
of  this  rather  curious  fancy,  which  would  not  have  occurred  to  him  if 
he  had  raised  corn  on  a  wooded  hillside  experimentally  in  the  Indian 
way.  Besides,  though  a  wheat-field  resembles  a  natural  field  or 
patch  of  low-growing  wild  grain,  a  cornfield  is  obviously  artificial. 
Dr.  Fiske  says  that  it  was  naturally  noticed  by  Thorfinn's  people, 
being  one  of  the  first  objects  to  attract  the  attention  of  Champlain. 
But  Champlain's  first  observation  is :  "  They  till  and  cultivate 

the  soil.     I  landed  to  observe  their  tillage We  saw  their 

Indian  corn,  which  they  raise  in  gardens,"  and  again,  "  before  reach- 
ing their  cabins  we  entered  a  field  planted  with  Indian  corn."  When- 
ever he  mentions  this  plant  or  its  grain,  it  is  unequivocally  as  an 
attendant  on  human  homes  and  the  product  of  human  labor. 

No  doubt  the  Norsemen  would  have  done  likewise,  if  "  Indian 
corn  "  were  the  "  wheat  "  which  they  found ;  but  there  is  not  a  word 
in  the  sagas  to  indicate  any  sign  or  product  of  agriculture  past  or 
present — even  of  the  "  pulse  "  which  Verrazano  found  the  Narragan- 
sett  natives  cultivating,  whatever  he  may  have  meant. 

This  interesting  omission  of  the  saga  would  have  a  negative  value 
in  determining  the  general  location  of  Hop,  if  we  knew  that  corn 
was  then  raised  in  any  particular  region  which  Thorfinn  might  have 
reached.  But  the  chances  are  that  it  had  not  yet  entered  New  England 
from  beyond  the  Hudson.  It  was  there  in  the  early  seventeenth 


1 W.  Strachey  :  The  Historic  of  Travaile  into  Virginia,  p.  116.  Cf.  Lescarbot : 
Nova  Francia.  Erondelle's  transl.,  p.  98.  "A  loaf  of  bread  made  with  the  wheat 
called  mahiz  or  mais  and  in  these  our  parts  Turkey  or  Saracen  wheat." 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  135 

century,  and  perhaps  even  in  1500;  but  this  leaves  a  margin  of  five 
centuries  for  its  advent.  Even  if  it  were  plentiful  in  1000  a  little 
beyond  the  Allegheny  Mountains,  it  might  not  have  crossed  them. 
We  do  not  know  how  fast  it  was  carried,  nor  what  conditions  favored 
and  what  opposed  it. 

The  wild  rice  naturally  grows  in  wet  "  hollows,"  a  very  significant 
word  in  the  saga.  There  are  square  miles  of  it  along  almost  every  one 
of  the  Maryland  rivers.  In  the  northwest  it  is  equally  plentiful  and 
put  to  better  use.  Indian  wars  have  been  waged  for  the  best  gather- 
ing grounds.  Many  thousands  of  Indians  depend  in  some  degree  on 
it  for  subsistence.  The  tending  and  gathering  of  it  runs  close  to 
agriculture,  so  elaborate  a  system  has  developed — very  fully  set  forth 
in  the  memoir  of  Dr.  Jenks.1 

In  its  later  stages  it  does  not  greatly  resemble  wheat,  but  when 
young  there  is  a  decided  resemblance  to  the  ordinary  unbotanic  eye, 
though  its  tint  is  softer  and  more  luxuriant,  making  its  great  low 
fields  a  conspicuous  feature  of  our  spring  landscapes.  There  is 
plenty  of  it  in  Texas,  and  tHence  all  the  way  north  as  far  as  the  low 
sandy  typically  American  coast  line  extends ;  also  farther  north, 
where  proper  surface  conditions  obtain,  even  to  a  high  latitude. 
It  is  equally  at  home,  equally  abundant,  in  Maryland  and  Manitoba. 
In  "  The  Backwoods  of  Canada  "  Mrs.  Traill  reports  "  When  seen 
from  a  distance  they  (the  wild  rice  beds)  appear  like  low  green  islands 
on  the  lakes."  But  they  do  not  need  continually  even  partial  submer- 
gence, being  only  a  little  more  nearly  aquatic  than  cultivated  rice, 
which  must  have  the  water  let  in  now  and  then.  I  have  tramped 
often  about  and  upon  the  wild  rice  roots,  after  the  birds  that  fatten 
almost  absurdly  on  this  grain,  which  is  "  like  rye  "  as  to  height  and 
some  other  characteristics  in  full  plant-growth  as  Cartier  says. 

Climate  and  other  conditions  exclude  perhaps  all  the  territory  north 
of  Cape  Ann,  but  hardly  any  place  below  it,  near  the  coast.  We  must 
look  next  to  the  requirements  of  Hop's  topography  as  set  forth  in  the 
saga. 

The  general  meaning  of  the  word  is  a  loch  or  small  bay.  The 
map  of  Iceland 2  shows  the  particular  Hop  which  Thorfinn  most  likely 
had  in  mind  and  thus  illustrates  the  description.  It  is  a  lake  not 
very  far  from  his  home,  connected  by  a  strait  to  the  broad  bay  Huna- 

'A.  E.  Jenks:  The  Wild  Rice  Gatherers  of  the  Upper  Lakes.  Nineteenth 
Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Amer.  Ethnol.,  part  2,  p.  1013  et  seq. 

2W.  G.  Collingwood  and  J.  Stefansson  :  A  Pilgrimage  to  the  Saga-Steads 
of  Iceland.  But  this  does  not  show  the  sea  connection  made  plain  by  larger 
maps. 


136  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

floi  running  in  from  the  sea.  This  strait  or  channel  is  practically  a 
lower  reach  of  the  main  river  which  flows  down  into  the  lake.  There 
is  also  a  tributary  river  or  more  than  one  which  might  be  disregarded. 
Some  of  the  maps  seem  to  indicate  that  there  would  probably  be  a 
shoal  or  bar  in  the  strait  or  river  between  bay  and  sea.  All  this  is  in 
accord  with  the  words  of  the  saga,  concerning  the  American  Hop 
which  they  visited  and  named. 

Some  additional  facts  are  mentioned.  Indians  rounded  a  cape  in 
approaching  "  from  the  south."  There  were  hills  nearby  and  crags 
a  little  way  up  the  river.  There  was  a  point  or  cape  at  the  entrance 
to  the  bay.  There  were  flats  or  hollows  for  the  wild  rice,  as  already 
noticed.  It  will  be  seen  that  there  are  many  requirements.  We 
simply  cannot  find  anything  to  fit  them  even  plausibly  south  or  west 
of  Narragansett  Bay.  Is  there  anything  like  Hop  between  it  and 
Cape  Ann?  Or  rather  was  there  any  such  Hop  there  in  1004? 

Professor  Horsford  thought  he  found  an  eligible  Hop  in  the  Back 
Bay  of  Boston  Harbor ;  also  the  delightful  anchorage  of  Verrazano, 
where  a  fleet  might  be  safe  when  storms  do  blow.  But  in  Verrazano's 
time  there  was  no  such  bay  ;  far  less  in  Thorfinn's.  • 

As  previously  stated,  the  Superintendent  of  the  U.  S.  Coast  and 
Geodetic  Survey  informs  me  that  the  oldest  chart  to  which  he  has 
access  gives  two  fathoms  for  the  ruling  depth  of  the  channel  leading 
into  the  Back  Bay  and  shows  its  flats  without  depth  marks.  Yet 
they  may  not  have  been  wholly  bare  at  low  water,  for  they  show  on 
the  chart  like  those  of  Dorchester,  which  are  marked  for  four  feet. 
This  chart  was  drawn  for  the  British  government  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  Obviously  a  fleet  would  have  been  sorely 
put  to  it  for  room  in  1800;  how  then  in  1523,  allowing  for  the  sub- 
sidence of  the  coast?  In  Thorfinn's  time  if  not  in  Verrazano's,  there 
can  have  been  no  more  than  a  river  winding  through  meadows  all 
the  way  down  to  the  harbor.  This  vanishing  of  the  Back  Bay  Hop 
makes  any  comment  on  the  lack  of  elevations  and  crags  beside  the 
river  seem  rather  superfluous. 

Dr.  Rafn1  was  so  absurdly  wrong  as  to  so  many  things — in 
spite  of  the  real  service  he  rendered — that  they  will  reflect  in  some 
minds  injuriously  on  one  point,  as  to  which  he  may  happen  to  be  right. 
That  is,  the  identification  of  Mount  Hope  Bay,  Rhode  Island,  with 
Thorfinn's  Hop.  It  is  a  beautiful  sheet,  the  depth  of  which  in  some 
parts  is  a  guaranty  against  its  entire  absence  then. 

Taunton  River  flows  into  it  at  the  upper  end  or  side.  From  the 
lower  end  or  opposite  side  two  channels  extend  to  the  sea.  One  is 

^ntiquitates  Americanse. 


SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS 


VOL.    59,     NO.    19.     PL.    10 


MOUNT  HOPE  BAY 


IO 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  137 

known  as  Sakonnet  River ;  the  other  as  the  eastern  channel  of 
Narragansett  Bay.  Aquidneck  or  Rhode  Island  lies  between  them. 
Bristol  Narrows  connects  the  above  channel  with  Mount  Hope  Bay. 
Mount  Hope  is  a  little  above  the  narrows  near  the  bay  side  and  affords 
a  fine  view  over  nearly  the  whole  Narragansett  region. 

It  has  been  objected  that  there  are  no  bars,  that  a  fleet  may  pass 
in  without  any  difficulty.  But  the  objectors  lose  sight  of  the  different 
conditions  probably  obtaining  then.  No  one  can  say  just  what  the 
change  in  elevation  has  been  during  nine  hundred  years  ;  yet  there  are 
some  measures  which  have  been  taken  recently,  and  there  are  earlier 
indications.  The  Dighton  Rock  inscription  in  Taunton  River  is  wholly 
overflowed  in  ordinary  tides ;  it  was  partly  overflowed  in  high  tides 
about  1 700  when  Cotton  Mather  wrote.  We  must  suppose  that  it  was 
entirely  free  of  the  tide  and  in  no  apparent  danger  when  the  figures 
were  carven.  Other  inscribed  rocks  give  like  testimony.  Mr.  Davis's 
marsh  experiments  elsewhere  cited  are  quite  conclusive.  Dr.  McGee 
tells  me  that  the  depression  at  Atlantic  City  is  found  to  be  probably 
from  two  to  four  feet  per  century.  It  seems  to  be  about  that  for  Ocean 
City,  Maryland,  a  point  which  I  have  watched  for  more  than  twenty- 
five  years.  A  proven  descent  has  occurred  at  New  York  and  in 
Boston  Harbor  during  the  past  seventy  years.  Of  course  we  cannot 
be  quite  sure  that  this  existed  in  older  times,  for  reasons  already  given, 
but  continuity  of  movement  seems  more  probable  than  cessation,  when 
there  is  no  apparent  reason  for  the  latter.  As  we  know  of  a  sufficient 
cause  for  the  continuous  lowering  of  the  southern  New  England 
coast,  and  that  it  has  really  descended  during  several  centuries,  we 
may  at  least  be  pretty  sure  that  it  was  higher  in  the  year  1004  than  it 
is  now  ;  but  by  how  many  feet  who  can  say  ? 

Of  course  the  action  of  tides  and  river-currents,  in  scouring  out 
and  in  depositing,  must  also  be  kept  in  mind.  For  example,  though 
parts  of  Mount  Hope  Bay  near  that  hill  are  deep,  the  remainder  of  it 
seems  to  have  been  silted  up  by  Taunton  River  and  other  tributaries, 
the  soundings  running  below  twenty  feet.  The  shallows  have  been 
dredged  through  to  make  a  clear  channel.  To  get  the  soundings  of 
the  year  1004,  we  must  suppose  all  this  accumulation  removed  and 
the  old  elevation  restored.  Whether  the  net  results  would  leave  a 
Mount  Hope  Bay  approaching  its  present  size  may  be  questioned ;  but 
there  would  be  at  least  a  small  bay,  unless  the  depression  has  amounted 
to  seventy  feet,  which  seems  unlikely.  A  very  much  less  descent 
would,  however,  make  a  bar  in  a  curved  line  across  the  main  channel 
where  a  vessel  struck  in  1912 ;  would  close  the  strait  now  called 


138  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

Sakonnet  River  ;  and  would  leave  the  Eastern  Channel  with  its  lateral 
branch,  called  Bristol  Narrows,  a  good  title  to  be  called  a  river,  as 
the  popular  equivalent  for  a  strait.  The  steep  Fall  River  hills  would 
supply  the  crags  called  for  by  the  saga,  and  the  upper  end  of  what  is 
now  Aquidneck  Island  would  be  the  point  on  the  southern  side  of  the 
entrance,  which  the  Indians  passed  in  paddling  from  the  south  and 
returning  the  same  way.  There  would  be  plenty  of  marshland  for 
the  wild  rice. 

It  fits  well  in  the  main,  but  of  course 'the  rest  would  go  for  nothing 
without  a  loch-like  bay  of  some  size ;  and  this  item  looks  more  doubt- 
ful than  if  the  present  depth  were  generally  greater  ;  yet  that  objection 
is  probably  not  fatal.  Verrazano  seems  to  describe  a  transitional 
condition  of  Narragansett  Bay,  when  its  mouth  did  not  freely  let 
in  so  great  a  volume  of  water  as  now  before  the  sweep  of  the  storms. 
Curiously  he  does  not  allude  to  Mount  Hope  Bay ;  but  he  does  not 
allude  to  Mount  Hope  either ;  so  perhaps  his  trips  by  land  and  water 
were  rather  to  the  westward,  or  those  who  doubt  his  interesting  story 
may  be  right  though  in  most  of  its  items  there  is  a  notable  veri- 
similitude. Certainly  the  hill  was  there,  small  but  dominating  the 
low  landscape. 

The  name  Mount  Hope  is  somewhat  mysterious,  but  probably  a 
corruption  of  Montaup;  which  Mr.  Mooney  does  not  consider  iden- 
tical with  Montauk,  Manotuck  or  Montanutt,  defined  by  Trumbull's  * 
dictionary  as  meaning  in  substance  a  place  of  outlook.  Montauk  is 
at  least  applied  to  several  hills,  and  its  meaning  would  seem  to  fit 
the  present  one  well  enough.  But  the  words  may  not  be  related. 

Now  Munro's  History  of  the  town  of  Bristol,  before  referred  to, 
a  work  rather  notable  for  care  in  collecting  local  data  from  deeds  and 
records,  declares  in  a  note  that  Haup  and  Montaup  were  applied 
by  Indians  to  this  region  when  the  white  settlers  came.  He  offers 
the  solution  that  the  Norsemen  left  the  name  Hop,  which  the  Indians 
turned  to  Haup  and  the  English  to  Hope  as  we  now  write  it.  He 
thinks  two  or  three  Norsemen  may  have  remained  and  married  among 
the  Indians,  thus  anchoring  the  name ;  .an  improbable  supposition, 
considering  the  hostility  of  these  natives,  and  one  for  which  we  have 
no  basis  whatever.  The  true  explanation  of  the  origin  of  the  word 
must  be  left  to  our  Indian  linguists,  who,  however,  are  more  con- 
versant with  surviving  languages.  No  argument  can  be  safely 
founded  on  it  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge. 


1 J.  H.  Trumbull:  Indian    Names    of   Places    in    and    on    the    Borders    of 
Connecticut. 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  139 

As  against  Mount  Hope  Bay,  it  must  be  said  that  the  saga  rather 
leaves  the  impression  of  an  eastward-facing,  -nearly  land-locked 
expanse,  reached  by  natives  who  came  up  along  the  coast  from  the 
south ;  and  that  there  is  no  reference  to  any  course  but  a  southern 
one  in  reaching  it  from  Straumey,  nor  any  but  a  northern  one  in 
returning.  It  is  true  that  the  narrative  might  have  omitted,  as  not 
very  important,  the  westward  and  eastward  turns  in  rounding  the 
corner  of  New  England ;  but  a  spot  on  the  eastern  front  of  the  latter 
has  the  advantage  of  requiring  no  such  explanation.  On  the  other 
hand,  sites  along  this  coast  lack  noticeable  hills.  Just  what  weight 
should  be  attached  to  each  of  these  conflicting  considerations  is  hard 
to  say,  but  thus  far  no  other  Hop  has  been  suggested  which  seems 
more  plausible  than  Mount  Hope  Bay,  Rhode  Island. 

16.— CONCERNING  THE  NATIVES 

In  The  Discovery  of  America,  Dr.  Fiske  *  has  laid  stress  on  the 
ignorance  of  eleventh  century  Europeans  as  to  people  so  unsophis- 
ticated that  they  would  not  understand  the  qualities  of  a  steel  imple- 
ment or  the  relative  value  of  red  rags  and  costly  furs  and  who  could 
be  thrown  into  panic  by  the  bellowing  of  a  bull.  Possibly  the  argu- 
ment is  pressed  overmuch,  for  the  civilized  peoples  of  antiquity  had, 
and  transmitted,  some  knowledge  of  interior  Africa  and  other  outlying 
rudimentary  regions  ;  but,  however  qualified,  it  adds  a  little  cumulative 
testimony  to  the  genuine  character  of  the  saga.  Also,  these  Skrellings 
have  been  found  interesting  by  many  writers  and  overhauled  in  every 
way,  to  see  what  they  can  tell  us,  for  one  thing,  about  the  location  of 
Hop. 

In  particular,  controversy  has  busied  itself  with  the  question,  were 
they  Indian  or  Eskimo?  The  case  for  the  latter  rests  mainly  on  the 
name  Skrelling  or  Skraeling.  which  is  known  to  have  been  applied  to 
them  centuries  afterward,  the  "  skin-boats,"  the  slings,  and  certain 
physical  characteristics.  Its  weakness  lies  chiefly  in  the  absence 
of  clothing  at  Hop,  of  dogs  and  sleds,  of  winter  traveling,  of  distinc- 
tively Eskimo  appliances  such  as  the  kayak  and  harpoon,  and  of  any 
indication  of  skill  in  carving ;  also  in  the  fact  that  everything  said  of 
the  Skrellings  would  apply  to  some  Indians,  who  might  have  been 
there. 

We  have  touched  lightly  before  on  the  question  of  boundaries, 
yet  may  still  add  a  word.  We  know  the  Eskimo  only  as  an  Arctic 
littoral  people,  ill  content  with  a  milder  habitat  and  not  thriving 

1  Vol.  i,  pp.  180-185. 


I4O  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

in  it.  All  accounts  go  to  prove  them  so  wonderfully  skilled  in 
making  the  most  of  their  situation  that  they  must  have  belonged  to 
it  from  rather  ancient  times  though  not  necessarily  in  the  New  World. 
Rink  *  argued  for  their  development  from  some  Indian  tribe  and  their 
gradual  movement  to  the  northern  coast  under  pressure,  there  to  be- 
come modified  by  circumstances  and  polar  weather.  Thalbitzer,2 
examining  the  question  more  recently,  finds  nothing  conclusive  in  the 
reasoning.  It  seems  at  least  as  likely  that  they  were  here  before  the 
Indians,  at  least  before  the  ancestors  of  any  of  those  stocks  of  North 
American  Indians  which  concern  us  or  they  may  have  come  in  after 
them  from  Asia  as  some  suppose.  They  have  often  clashed  in  defence 
with  Athapascan  or  Algonquian  tribes,  sometimes,  though  rarely, 
have  taken  the  aggressive ;  and  occasionally  a  particular  district  has 
been  alternately  occupied  or  overrun  by  one  or  the  other  contestant. 
But  in  the  main  it  must  be  said  that  the  Eskimo  have  been  content 
to  hold  their  ground  along  shores  not  desired  by  other  people,  and 
are  to  be  considered  as  doing  so  from  choice,  not  because  driven 
thither  and  held  there  by  enemies.  Woods  and  warmth  have  never 
tempted  them  in  historic  times.  While  the  ice-cap  border  was  moving 
northward,  we  may  suppose  a  slow  shifting  of  their  southern  limit  in 
the  same  direction.  After  the  ice-cap  was  quite  gone  from  the  main- 
land, they  dwelt  still  on  those  northern  shores  which  gave  them  the 
life  that  they  know.  Sometimes  they  moved  southward  along  these 
shores  a  little  way,  regaining  regions  of  their  former  occupancy  as  to 
the  coast-line  only. 

Packard 3  says  "  When  the  French  first  frequented  the  coast,  it 
was  in  possession  of  the  Equimaux  as  far  up  as  the  end  of  Anticosti. 
Apparently  they  had  not  been  long  in  possession."  They  seem  also 
to  have  been  contending  for  a  foothold  on  Newfoundland,  but  it 
was  never  more  than  precarious.  There  are  also  a  few  slight  and 
doubtful  indications  that  parties  of  them  landed  on  the  northern 
shore  of  New  Brunswick.  It  is  their  utmost  southward  point,  even 
of  reconnoissance  or  exploration,  so  far  as  we  know  ;  and  if  Professor 
Packard's4  inference  be  right,  they  would  have  been  more  remote 
before  the  movement  of  which  he  tells  us.  Undoubtedly  they  may 
have  come  southward  before ;  but  they  would  not  wish  to  come  far, 


1  H.  J.  Rink :  On  the  Descent  of  the  Eskimo.    Arctic  Papers  for  the  Expe- 
dition of  1875,  pp.  271-273.    Journ.  Anthr.  Inst.,  1872. 
2W.  Thalbitzer:  The  Eskimo  Language,  p.  21. 
3  Packard :  The  Coast  of  Labrador,  p.  260. 
4W.  Thalbitzer:  The  Eskimo  Language,  p.  20. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  14! 

this  would  be  hardly  practicable ;  and  there  is  not  the  least  sign  that 
they  came  at  all.  If  we  consider  the  Skrellings  to  be  Eskimo,  we  must 
suppose  Hop  to  be  in  Labrador  or  Newfoundland,  where  there  are 
no  grapes  and  no  balmy  winters  and  where  the  coastal  geography  of 
the  sagas  fails  to  apply.  The  Eskimo  are  all  north  of  Hamilton  Inlet 
now. 

The  earlier  students  of  the  subject  were  dominated  by  the  idea 
that  "  Skrelling  "  must  mean  Eskimo.  Putting  this  with  the  evidence 
for  a  warm  Hop,  they  got  some  curious  results.  Thus  Schoolcraft,1 
adding  yet  a  little  more  in  the  way  of  assumption,  declared  that 
successive  conquests  and  revolutions  in  the  Valley  of  Mexico  sent 
corresponding  waves  of  mankind  northeastward  by  way  of  Tampico, 
till  at  last  they  drove  out  of  New  England  the  Skrellings  whom  the 
Norsemen  found  there.  This  may  be  paired  off  with  the  Arthurian 
conquest  of  Iceland,  as  a  bit  of  theoretical  ballooning. 

Dr.  Fiske 2  no  doubt  presents  the  kernel  of  the  matter  in  reminding 
all  that  we  do  not  assert  the  identity  of  Fuegians  and  Australians 
by  calling  them  savages.  The  meaning  of  the  word  (weaklings) 
seems  to  have  been  about  that  among  the  Norsemen.3  We  find  them 
applying  it  not  only  to  their  Hop  visitors,  but  to  the  men  in  "  doublets  " 
found  at  a  distant  point,  and  to  the  bearded  Marklander  and  his  com- 
panions, with  no  thought  of  ethnological  distinctions,  but  in  mere 
facile  disparagement.  What  else  could  be  their  view  of  the  poor 
people  who  had  no  ships  nor  woven  fabrics,  no  jewels  nor  armor,  no 
live  stock  nor  grain,  nor  steel  weapons,  nor  good  tools,  nor  money,  nor 
proper  European  clothing ;  dusky  people  too,  not  pleasing  in  northern 
eyes?  Such  were  contemptibly  insignificant;  it  was  hardly  worth 
while  to  distinguish  differences  among  them. 

Dr.  Nansen  may  be  right  in  thinking  that  the  name  (like  that 
of  Finn  for  Laplanders  and,  as  he  points  out,  two  other  inferior 
peoples)  came  to  have  an  implication  of  mythical  beings  or  of  magic ; 
but  the  fact  is  irrelevant.4 

The  natives  who  visited  them  at  Hop  were  their  very  first  speci- 
mens, and  the  Norsemen  fitted  the  word  to  them  in  the  spirit  which 
applies  derogatory  nicknames  like  injun,  nigger,  dago,  and  sheeney 
to  people  despised  by  the  utterer.  It  was  then  ready  for  any  others 
of  like  status,  and  might  even  be  applied  conjecturally,  by  a  loose 


1  Schoolcraft :    Indian  Tribes  of  the  United  States.    Drake's  edition,  vol.  6, 
p.  84. 

2J.  Fiske:  The  Discovery  of  America,  pp.  181-185. 
3Fr.  Nansen:  Eskimo  Life. 
*In  Northern  Mists,  vol.  2,  pp   11-20. 


142  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

analogy,  in  advance  of  discovery.'  We  can  see  the  process  at  work 
after  a  hundred  years  in  the  surviving  Libellus  of  the  Islendingabok, 
written  by  Ari  the  Wise,  who  was  no  doubt  the  best  informed 
man  in  Iceland.  Here  is  the  passage :  "  This  country  which  is  called 
Greenland  was  discovered  and  colonized  from  Iceland.  Eric  the 
Red  was  the  name  of  the  man,  an  inhabitant  of  Breidafirth  who  went 
thither  from  here  and  settled  at  that  place  which  has  since  been 
called  Ericsfirth.  He  gave  a  name  to  the  country  and  called  it 
Greenland  and  said  that  it  must  persuade  men  to  go  thither  if  the 
land  had  a  good  name.  They  found  there,  both  east  and  west  in  the 
country,  the  dwellings  of  men  and  fragments  of  boats  and  stone  imple- 
ments such  that  it  may  be  perceived  from  these  that  that  manner  of 
the  people  had  been  there  who  have  inhabited  Wineland  and  whom 
the  Greenlanders  call  Skrellings.  And  this  when  he  set  about  the 
colonization  of  the  country  was  14  or  15  winters  before  the  intro- 
duction of  Christianity  here  in  Iceland,  according  to  which  a  certain 
man  who  himself  accompanied  Eric  the  Red  thither,  informed  Thor- 
kell  Gellison." 

Broken  boats,  tools,  and  dwellings  defined  as  savages  (Skrellings) 
the  former  occupants,  who  had  probably  withdrawn  to  the  north- 
ward *  or  kept  at  home  there,  refraining  from  southward  journeys 
and  therefore  they  were  presumably  like  the  other  Skrellings  already 
encountered  in  Wineland.  In  other  words,  the  Winelanders  were  not 
called  Skrellings  because  there  were  Eskimo  already  known,  but  the 
Eskimo,  long  before  they  were  seen,  were  called  Skrellings  by  con- 
jecture, because  the  word  had  come  to  Iceland  traditionally  from 
American  adventures  then  a  century  old.  Of  course  the  two  kinds 
of  Skrelling  (savage)  might  be  utterly  dissimilar,  according  to  our 
modern  standards. 

Perhaps  it  was  in  the  twelfth  century,2  perhaps  not  till  the  thirteenth 
century,  that  Norse  hunters  in  upper  Greenland  met  small  "  Skrell- 
ings," who  used  stone  knives  and  whalebone  arrowheads — Eskimo 
undoubtedly — as  related  by  a  manuscript  discovered  in  Scotland  in 
the  nineteenth  century.3  The  greater  Greenland  landowners  had 
hunting  lodges,  as  we  may  call  them,  at  the  north,  and  kept  ships  to 
sail  there ;  so  such  contact  must  happen  at  last. 

In  the  year  1266  an  expedition  was  sent  to  find  out  about  them, 
as  before  mentioned,  and  seems  to  have  gone  very  far  north,  indeed 


:Fr.  Nansen:  Eskimo  Life,  Chap.  5. 

2  G.  Storm  :  Studies  on  the  Vineland  Voyages. 

3W.  Thalbitzer :  Eskimo  Language,  p.  22. 


NO.    Ip  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  143 

nearly  to  Jones's  Sound,  judging  by  its  primitive  astronomical  data ; 
though  Thalbitzer  *  supposes  that  they  did  not  pass  the  site  of  Uper- 
navik.  At  all  events  they  found  Skrelling  houses  here  and  there 
above  the  region  inhabited  by  white  men. 

According  to  Dr.  Storm,2  the  settlers  "  apparently  afterward 
killed  them  or  drove  them  away  when  they  could."  This  looks  as 
though  the  colony  were  expanding  in  that  direction,  or  the  Eskimo 
were  beginning  an  ominous  downward  movement. 

Professor  Olson's  preface  to  Original  Narratives,  etc.,  before  men- 
tioned, says  that  "  The  Speculum  Regale  wras  written  in  Old  Norse  in 
Norway  in  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,"  that  it  discusses  in 
a  dry,  matter-of-fact  way  divers  Greenland  matters,  like  insularity, 
the  aurora  borealis,  glaciers,  climate,  the  fauna,  exports  and  imports, 
and  the  means  of  human  subsistence,  but  has  not  a  word  for  the 
Eskimo.  Surely  the  writer  knew  nothing  'definite  about  them, 
although  some  border  settler  might  have  been  able  to  tell  him. 

It  was  the  year  1337  at  the  earliest  when  Ivar  Bardsen  went  with 
a  relief  expedition  to  the  western  settlement,  a  little  too  late.  His 
narrative,  written  later  in  Norway,  shows  that  the  Greenland  colonists 
can  have  had  no  considerable  contact  with  the  natives  before  the 
fourteenth  century.  The  Icelanders  can  have  had  no  idea  of  them  at 
the  time  Hauk's  book  was  copied,  still  less  a  hundred  years  earlier 
when  the  saga  was  written.  Neither  Thorfinn,  nor  the  unknown 
saga-man,  nor  the  Lawman  Hauk,  who  gives  us  the  earliest  surviving 
manuscript,  can  reasonably  be  charged  with  using  Skrelling  in  the 
special  sense  of  Eskimo.  If  the  Hop  natives  are  to  be  held  Eskimo,  it 
must  be  on  other  evidence. 

The  Saga  of  Eric  the  Red  (A.  M.  557)  says:  "  They  were  small 
men  and  ill  looking,  and  the  hair  of  their  heads  was  ugly.  They  had 
great  eyes  and  were  broad  of  cheek."  The  Saga  of  Thorfinn  Karlsefni 
substitutes  "  swarthy  "  for  "  small."  The  Flateybook  Wineland  Saga 
states  that  the  native  chief  was  tall  and  of  good  figure. 

Stature  and  comeliness  make  an  uncertain  reliance.  The  Eskimo 
are  not  all  squat  people.  Those  of  southern  Greenland  are  said 
to  be  taller  than  those  in  the  north.  The  Long  Labrador  Trail  of 
Dillon  Wallace  tells  us : 

In  our  old  school  geographies  we  used  to  see  them  pictured  as  stockily  built 
little  fellows.  In  real  life  they  compare  well  in  stature  with  the  white  man  of  the 
temperate  zone.  With  a  few  exceptions,  the  Eskimo  of  Ungava  average  over 
five  feet  eight  inches  in  height  with  some  six  footers. 


1  Op.  cit.,  p.  23. 

2  Studies  on  the  Vineland  Voyages,  pp.  307,  370. 


144  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

Concerning  the  "  Northerners,"  a  remote  unsophisticated  branch  of 
the  Innuit,  occupying  the  northwestern  peninsula  of  the  same  main- 
land region,  Mr.  Turner l  informs  us :  "  These  people  are  unusually 
tall  and  of  fine  physique.  The  men  are  larger  than  the  average  white 
man,  while  the  women  compare  favorably  in  stature  with  the  women 
of  medium  height  in  other  countries."  E.  W.  Nelson  2  says  : 

The  Malemut  and  the  people  of  Kaviak  peninsula,  including  those  of  the 
islands  in  Bering  Strait,  are  tall,  active,  and  remarkably  well  built  Among 
them  it  is  common  to  see  men  from  five  feet  ten  inches  to  six  feet  tall. 

Yet 

The  Eskimo  from  Bering  Strait  to  the  lower  Yukon  are  fairly  well-built  people, 
averaging  among  the  men  about  five  feet  two  or  three  inches  in  height.  The 
Yukon  Eskimo  and  those  living  southward  from  the  river  to  the  Kuskokwim 
are,  as  a  rule,  shorter  and  more  squarely  built  .  .  .  and  all  of  the  people  in  the 
district  about  Capes  Vancouver  and  Romanzof,  and  thence  to  the  Yukon 
mouth,  ...  all  are  very  short. 

Of  the  Norton  Sound  Eskimo,  Ball 3  writes  that  he  has  often  seen 
both  men  and  women  six  feet  high  and  that  some  of  the  men  are 
still  taller.  Also  that  the  men  have  great  strength,  one  being  able  to 
take  a  hundred  pound  bag  of  flour  in  each  hand  and  another  by  his 
teeth  and  walk  off  thus  burdened. 

As  to  the  eyes  in  particular,  he  reports  that  they  are  "  small,  black 
and  almost  even  with  the  face,"  also  that  the  "  women  are  sometimes 
quite  pretty."  Lieutenant  Holm  4  admits  that  Eskimo  have  not  large 
eyes,  but  asserts  the  same  of  Indians,  disqualifying  both ;  yet  the 
Skrellings  were  natives  of  some  kind.  Captain  Robinson,5  as  quoted 
at  second  hand  by  Patterson  in  his  valuable  little  work,  described 
Mary  March,  a  Beothuk  prisoner,  as  having  black  eyes,  "  larger  and 
more  intelligent  than  those  of  the  Eskimo."  The  two  types  were 
neighbors  and  naturally  chosen  for  comparison  by  one  who  knew  them 
both. 

Wide  divergences  are  noted  in  complexion,  in  physiognomy,  in 
hairiness  of  the  face,  in  the  proportions  of  the  body  and  limbs, 
between  the  Eskimo  of  different  districts.  Thus  we  have  a  puzzling 
absence  of  uniformity  in  a  race  which  is  considered  unusually 


1  The  Hudson  Bay  Eskimo.    Eleventh  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Amer.  Ethnol.,  1889- 
1890,  p.  179- 

2  The    Eskimo    About    Bering    Strait.    Eighteenth  Ann.    Rep.    Bur.    Amer. 
Ethnol.,  1896-1897,  pp.  26,  28. 

3W.  H.  Ball:  Alaska,  pp.  137-140. 

4 A.  M.  Reeves:  The  Finding  of  Wineland  the  Good.     Notes. 

5 Rev.  Geo.  Patterson:  The  Beothicks  of  Newfoundland,  p.  146. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  145 

homogeneous.  Now  shall  we  say  that  the  Skrellings  were  Eskimo, 
or  not  Eskimo,  because  they  were  small,  or  dark,  or  big-eyed,  or 
ugly-haired,  or  what  you  will  ? 

It  is  equally  true  that  some  of  the  greatest  contrasts  of  the  human 
race  are  found  among  Indians.  As  to  stature,  the  Patagonians  and 
Fuegians,  near  neighbors,  offer  an  almost  classic  example.  But  we 
do  not  need  to  go  so  far  afield.  The  Caddo  of  Oklahoma,  or  near  it, 
are  said  to  be  little  men ;  the  Osage  of  the  same  prairie  region  have 
been  called  giants  even  by  other  Indians.  The  Zuni  are  usually 
short ;  the  Nez  Perces  often  tall.  At  the  east  it  was  the  same.  The 
Iroquois  and  some  Algonquian  tribes  towered  over  their  neighbors. 
Strachey *  describes  the  Susquehannock  as  "  a  giant-like  people," 
the  Wicomico  as  "  of  little  stature  and  very  rude  " ;  but  they  both 
dwelt  on  rivers  emptying  into  the  same  generous  Chesapeake  Bay, 
and  their  conditions  were  identical.  The  few  Micmac  whom  I  have 
seen  appeared  under  medium  height.  The  Nanticoke  do  not  greatly 
pass  that  standard. 

As  to  the  other  items,  compare  this  description  by  Verrazano  : 2 
The  complexion  of  these  people  is  black,  not  much  different  from  that  of  the 
Ethiopians.  Their  hair  is  black  and  thick  and  not  very  long;  it  is  worn  tied 
back  upon  the  head  in  the  form  of  a  little  tail.  In  person  they  are  of  good 
proportions,  of  middle  stature,  a  little  above  our  own ;  broad  across  the  breast 
strong  in  the  arms,  and  well  formed  in  other  parts  of  the  body.  The  only 
exception  to  their  good  looks  is  that  they  have  broad  faces ;  but  not  all,  for  we 
saw  many  that  had  sharp  ones,  with  large  black  eyes  and  fixed  expression.  They 
are  not  very  strong  in  body,  but  acute  in  mind,  active  and  swift  of  foot. 

Here  in  close  juxtaposition  we  have  the  breadth  of  face,  which 
Brereton 3  and  Gosnold  also  observed  on  Cape  Cod  ;  the  swarthiness  ; 
the  large  eyes,  "  middle  stature,"  and  such  peculiarities  of  hair  as 
might  well  displease  a  Norseman  or  a  Celt ;  but  who  will  take  these 
early  Carolinians  for  Eskimo?  On  the  other  hand,  he  describes  the 
Narraganset  Indians  as  tall  and 

of  very  fair  complexion ;  some  of  them  incline  more  to  a  white,  others  to  a 
tawney  color ;  their  faces  are  sharp ;  their  hair  long  and  black  and  sharp,  their 
expression  mild  and  pleasant,  greatly  resembling  the  antique. 

But  again  he  found  the  Maine  Indians  "  rude  and  barbarous  "  and 
"  very  different."  They  "  made  the  most  brutal  signs  of  disdain." 

Similarly  a  southwestern  Federal  judge,  lately  deceased — a  man 
of  strong  intellect  and  keen  perception,  with  no  theories  to  sustain — 


1W.  Strachey:  The  Historic  of  Travaile  into  Virginia,  p.  41. 
2  Translation  in  Old  South  Leaflets. 

3J.  Brereton:    A   Brief e  Relation  of  the  Discoverie  of  the  North  Part  of 
Virginia  by  Gosnold.    The  Bibliographer,  1902,  p.  33.   Old  South  Leaflets,  vol.  5. 


146  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

assured  me  about  four  years  ago  that  whether  Indians  be  supe- 
rior or  inferior  to  negroes  depends  on  the  particular  tribe  chosen  for 
comparison.  He  instanced  one  as  composed  of  "  highly  civilized 
men  " ;  another  as  very  low  in  the  human  scale  ;  and  they  were  not 
of  those  usually  presented  by  way  of  typical  extremes,  Incas  and 
Fuegians  for  example.  Many  tribes,  gathered  from  every  quarter,  had 
long  been  within  his  jurisdiction,  and  his  acquaintance  with  their 
individual  members  had  been  uncommonly  close  and  extended. 

If  we  turn  to  trained  and  eminent  ethnologists,  we  find  no  stronger 
advocate  of  Indian  unity  than  Dr.  Brinton,  author  of  The  American 
Race ;  but  who  can  read  his  summary  of  the  characteristics  of  South 
American  tribes,  for  example,  without  feeling  that  his  witnesses  turn 
against  him?  Some  of  these  people,  it  appears,  are  nearly  white, 
others  nearly  black,  with  a  cavalier  defiance  of  latitude  and  isothermal 
lines  in  both  cases.  Here  is  a  bestial-featured  tribe,  there  a  noble 
one ;  here  a  tall  people,  there  a  horde  of  dwarfs ;  and  on  the  borders 
of  humane,  ancient,  widely  extended  civilization — or  something  very 
near  it — a  mere  debris  of  human  derelicts  and  incapables.  Dr. 
Brinton  proves  that  too  much  has  been  made  of  the  homogeneity  of 
the  American  Indians. 

As  already  suggested,  the  truth  seems  to  be  that  American  Indians, 
when  first  encountered,  comprised  more  than  a  few  survivals  of  earlier 
rudimentary  peoples  often  partly  assimilated,  as  well  as  some  intru- 
sive elements,  occasionally  higher  in  type  and  culture  and  of  uncertain 
origin.  Furthermore  they  had  developed  heterogeneously  in  diverse 
conditions.  They  still  differ  among  themselves — considering  the 
two  American  continents  together — in  many  ways.  Yet  if  we  were 
called  on  to  name  their  most  salient  and  generally  characteristic 
features  we  should  all  probably  select  their  cheek-bones,  color,  hair, 
and  eyes.  It  is  significant  that  these  were  noted  particularly  by  the 
observant  Norsemen.  That  the  cheeks  are  usually  prominent  rather 
than  broad,  the  eyes  conspicuously  keen  rather  than  conspicuously 
large,  and  that  swarthy  is  hardly  the  best  word  for  the  peculiar  tint 
of  their  complexion,  are  matters  of  detail,  easily  variable.  Subse- 
quent transmitters  would  be  likely  to  make  a  few  careless  or  poetic 
changes,  if  the  original  narrators  did  not;  also  the  visitors  were 
judged  by  the  standard  height  of  the  European  North,  for  these  Ice- 
landic observers  had  perhaps  never  seen  a  man  wrho  was  not  of  the 
white  race.  If  the  word  "  short  "  were  used,  as  in  one  saga,  we  have 
only  to  suppose  that  Indians  of  the  Wicomico  pattern  stood  before 
them ;  Micmac  visitors  might  call  forth  the  statement.  In  all  this, 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  147 

there  is  nothing-  which  confines  us  to  the  Eskimo,  and  little  which 
would  fit  the  Eskimo  equally  well. 

Hawes  1  says  of  the  Saghalien  Gilyak :  "  I  was  struck  with  their 
resemblance  to  North  American  Indians,  their  swarthy  features,  high 
cheekbones,  raven  hair  and  moccasined  legs,  the  impression  being 
heightened  by  their  paddling  a  dug-out  canoe."  Kennan  2  mentions 
the  "  swarthy  "  faces  of  the"  Kamchatkan  Koryak ;  adding  "  their 
high  cheekbones,  bold  black  eyes  and  straight  coal-black  hair  sug- 
gested an  intimate  relationship  to  our  own  Indians."  Thus  we  have 
two  independent  observers  of  different  nations  instructively  selecting 
as  Indian  the  same  features  as  the  saga  and  even  using  its  most 
doubtful  adjective. 

The  general  impression  left  by  their  conduct  is  surely  the  same. 
Love  qf  bright  colors ;  improvidence  in  bargaining ; 3  impulsiveness 
in  curiosity,  suspicion,  alarm,  and  vindictive  retaliation ;  readiness  to 
discard  a  tool  which  they  could  not  understand ;  sudden  panic,  before 
what  must  have  seemed  to  them  an  outburst  of  insanity — all  are 
surely  unsophisticated  Indian  in  psychology,  though  they  might 
happen  to  be  displayed  by  Eskimo.  The  last  item  is  an  impressive 
typical  example,  for  all  accounts  agree  that  such  visitations  are 
peculiarly  daunting  to  the  red-man,  being  looked  upon  as  divine  or 
diabolical  possession,  in  the  ancient  way.  From  Cooper  down  they 
have  been  a  stock  expedient  of  Indian  romance-writers.  His  "  Deer- 
slayer  "  presents  vividly  the  consideration  accorded  by  the  Iroquois — 
most  merciless  of  all  fierce  peoples — to  even  a  mild  form  of  dementia. 

On  their  part  the  Icelanders  behaved  better  than  many  later 
colonists ;  dealing  fairly,  after  their  light,  though  getting  the  better 
side  of  the  bargain  with  these  simple  folk,  and  not  using  their  weapons 
except  in  defense,  until  after  they  had  lost  one  of  their  best  men  by  a 
wanton  attack,  as  it  would  seem  to  them,  and  had  been  forced  to 
abandon  their  pleasant  homes  and  their  hopeful  venture.  Karlsefni's 
quick-tempered  bull  was  the  chief  culprit,  bringing  trouble  and  loss 
to  all  human  beings  concerned.  He  stands  out  as  one  of  the  few 
quadrupeds  which  have  meddled  with  history. 

From  this  episode,  common  to  all  these  Wineland  sagas,  it  has 
been  inferred,  not  quite  convincingly,  that  these  natives  had  never 
seen  a  bison.  Hence  Laing  (preface  to  Heimskringla)  believes  they 


1  C.  H.  Hawes  :  In  the  Uttermost  East,  p.  135. 
2 G.  Kennan:  Tent  Life  in  Siberia,  p.  171. 

3W.  H.  Dall:  Tribes  of  the  Extreme  Northwest,  p.  238.    ("Apiece  of  coarse 
cloth  for  a  dressed  deerskin".) 


148  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

could  hardly  be  mainland  Indians.  Fiske  replies :  "  Bisons  on  the 
Atlantic  coast,  Mr.  Laing  ?  "  Now  they  were  found  near  the  sites  of 
Washington  and  Richmond  in  the  early  seventeenth  century,1  hunted 
in  the  marshes  of  Georgia  long  afterward,  and  not  wholly  extirpated 
from  the  Appalachian  mountains  until  1800  or  later  ;  so  that  stragglers 
of  their  advance  guard  almost  certainly  reached  salt  water.  But  so 
far  as  concerns  New  England,  Dr.  Fiske's  note  of  exclamation  may 
well  be  right,  although  the  Orkneyman's  position  is  not  really  absurd. 
A  straggling  bison  2  was  killed  about  1790  or  1800  near  Lewisburg  on 
the  Susquehanna,  and  there  are  indications  of  their  former  presence 
about  as  far  east  at  other  points.  They  were  plentiful  in  parts  of  the 
Pennsylvania  mountains,  yet  it  is  unlikely  that  they  ever  crossed  the 
Hudson. 

Moreover,  the  bison  herds  came  late  into  the  Appalachian  region, 
and  left  early.  Shaler's  3  excavations  near  a  Kentucky  saltlick  showed, 
lowest,  a  considerable  depth  of  mammoth  bones ;  then,  those  of  a 
muskox  when  the  glacier  front  was  but  little  way  northward ;  finally, 
the  bison,  with  every  appearance  of  recentness.  Few  of  their  remains 
are  found  in  even  the  later  mounds  of  the  Mississippi  drainage. 
From  all  indications  and  with  the  aid  of  the  best  ethnologists,  Shaler 
inferred  that  the  culture  of  these  agricultural  people  and  builders  of 
the  great  defensive  earthworks  was  in  full  flower  about  the  year  1000 
(Leif's  date)  and  that  the  bison  at  that  time  had  not  crossed  the 
Mississippi,  coming  eastward,  but  were  all  probably  still  near  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  He  suspects  them  of  tempting  the  mound  builders 
afterward  out  of  their  incipient  civilization  and  into  burning  the  woods 
to  make  buffalo  pastures.  But  the  menace  of  these  wild  herds  to  the 
hundred  acre  cornfields,  also  the  attacks  of  hordes  of  savages 
traveling  with  or  after  them,  would  perhaps  have  still  more  to  do 
with  the  final  breaking  up. 

How  far  an  acquaintance  with  bison  would  prepare  the  Hop 
natives  to  receive  with  equanimity  the  charge  of  the  settlers'  bull 
is  a  metaphysical  question  I  can  not  answer.  Perhaps  they  supposed 
his  challenge  to  be  incited  by  their  entertainers,  especially  if  the 
Norsemen  laughed  at  them,  as  we  may  guess  they  unwisely  did. 
Thus  viewed,  Indians  might  see  insult,  treachery,  and  deadly  danger 


1W.  T.  Hornaday :  The  Extermination  of  the  American  Bison.  Ann.  Rep. 
U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  1887. 

2 Allen:  History  of  the  American  Bison.  U.  S.  Geol.  and  Geogr.  Survey  of 
Colorado  (1875),  p.  443. 

3  Nature  and  Man  in  America,  pp.  181-186. 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  149 

in  it.  One  cannot  be  sure  that  the  memory  of  any  wild  animal  would 
soothe  them  adequately. 

But  they  seem  to  have  offered  no  buffalo  robe  for  sale,  such  as 
the  scouts  of  De  Soto  bought  in  the  Carolina  mountains,  and  in  view 
of  the  limitations  of  period  and  range  above  stated,  we  are  no  doubt 
safe  in  acquitting"  the  Hop  Skrellings  of  any  acquaintance  with  any 
kind  of  cattle  ;  and  moose  would  not  help  the  case  at  all. 

Indians  in  general  had  few  metals ;  but  gold  ornaments  were 
scattered  through  the  south  as  far  as  the  outer  Bahamas,  where 
Columbus  found  them,  and  copper  in  like  manner  through  the  north- 
east, being  shown  to  Gosnold  1  on  Cape  Cod  in  1620,  besides  some 
earlier  entries.  The  few  survivors  of  the  Roanoke  massacre,  accord- 
ing to  Powhatan  (see  Strachey),  were  employed  as  slaves  in  beating 
it  out  for  a  chief.  Some  of  it  may  have  been  mined  in  the  mountains, 
but  the  chief  source  of  supply  regularly  worked  seems  to  have  been 
the  shores  of  the  upper  lakes,  as  the  chief  source  of  gold  supply  was 
probably  central  Mexico.  But  the  transfer  of  such  articles  or 
materials,  whether  by  barter  or  through  migration,  must  depend  on 
intervening  peoples,  and  the  conditions  of  one  century  are  not  neces- 
sarily those  of  another  even  among  uncivilized  men. 

The  earthwork  builders  of  Ohio  might,  if  they  chose,  absorb  and 
hold  most  of  the  southeastern  flow  of  copper  until  they  were  driven 
from  their  strongholds  ;  whether  they  were  Sioux,  Cherokee,  Mandan, 
Appalachian,  or  of  the  remoter  southwest;  whether  a  temporary 
league  of  the  Algonquians  and  the  Iroquois  overcame  them,  or  they 
fell  under  the  attack  of  hunting  Dakota ;  and  whether  they  went  west- 
ward beyond  the  Mississippi,  or  into  the  mountains  as  Cherokee,  or 
were  scattered  among  many  tribes — all  debatable  hypotheses  which 
have  been  advanced,  but  need  not  be  rediscussed  here ;  and  we  do 
not  know  when  the  working  began  of  the  meager  supplies  afterward 
obtained,  as  we  are  told,  in  Virginia  and  New  Jersey.  In  this  view 
of  the  case,  copper  would  not  probably  reach  New  England  from  any 
quarter  by  Thorfinn's  time.  Whatever  the  reason,  the  seaboard 
tribes  about  Hop  do  not  then  seem  to  have  possessed  it.  But  this 
does  not  at  all  imply  any  lack  of  such  adornments  at  that  place  a  few 
centuries  later. 

As  already  noticed,  these  people  apparently  wore  no  garments 
worth  mentioning,  very  likely  only  Nauset  grass  aprons  or  a  dimin- 
utive form  of  breech-clout.  They  can  not  then  have  been  Eskimo. 


1  Brereton's  Briefe  Relation,  before  cited.    Old  South  Leaflets  ;  and  The  Bibli- 
ographer, iQ02,':p.*'33. 


I5O  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

They  did  not  make  any  visits  in  the  winter,  when  the  Eskimo  prefer 
to  journey.  They  had  no  sleds,  no  dogs,  no  harness,  though  these 
promptly  attracted  Frobisher's 1  attention  in  Labrador,  and  Davis 
tells  of  fighting  off  the  Greenland  dogs  which  the  Eskimo  set  on 
him.  Nansen  2  even  lays  stress  on  the  use  of  this  method  of  land 
transportation,  as  making  against  the  theory  of  the  development  of 
these  Innuit  from  the  Indians ;  adding,  "  In  this  the  Eskimo  more 
resembles  the  races  of  the  Asiatic  polar  regions."  It  is  true  that  dogs 
were  not  uncommon  in  many  Indian  villages  as  pets  or  sacrifices,  or 
to  aid  in  hunting  or  serve  for  food.  But  these  people  came  to  Hop 
always  by  water,  apparently  from  some  rather  distant  point  south- 
ward, and  on  such  excursions  the  dogs  would  most  likely  be  left 
behind.  Besides  lack  of  room  in  the  boats,  they  might  interfere  with 
the  plans  of  a  war  party  or  even  disturb  trading.  Moreover,  early 
travelers  often  do  not  mention  them,  and  presumably  they  were  rare 
in  some  tribes.  The  Indians  had  no  such  imperative  need  for  them 
as  the  Eskimo,  and  might  be  much  later  in  acquiring  them  along  the 
Atlantic  coast.  We  have  no  real  reason  to  suppose  their  presence 
among  the  New  England  Algonquians  in  the  year  1000,  but  it  would 
be  a  marvel  if  they  were  not  then  drawing  the  Eskimo  of  Labrador, 
and  indeed  of  all  quarters,  over  the  snow. 

There  is  no  hint,  either,  in  the  saga  of  the  faithful  and  spirited 
bone-carving  and  other  sculpture  and  artistry,  which  made  Prof. 
Boyd  Dawkins  in  Cave  Hunting  conjecturally  identify  the  Innuit  with 
the  paleolithic  European  cave-dwellers.  Both  had  the  seeing  eye 
and  the  cunning  hand,  also  a  sense  of  the  picturesque,  along  with 
patient  industry  in  embodiment.  Our  northeastern  Indian  picture 
makers  were  infantile  and  freakish  in  comparison.  The  Norsemen 
would  neither  have  heeded  nor  mentioned  such  "  Skrelling"  efforts. 

It  may  be  repeated  as  important  that  we  hear  of  no  kayak,  nor 
of  any  of  the  accouterments  which  ordinarily  pertained  to  the  kayaker. 
Why  should  Thorfinn  be  less  impressed  by  this  unique  Eskimo  craft 
than  were  Antonio  Zeno,  Baffin,3  and  Lescarbot?  We  have  seen 
reason  to  suppose  that  one  Eskimo  and  his  kayak  quite  appalled 
Thorfinn's  party  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  Surely  the  reappear- 
ance of  the  phenomenon,  multiplied,  would  not  have  been  disregarded 
— whether  in  confirmation  or  explanation.  By  "  boats  "  we  must 


1Hakluyt's  Principal  Voyages  (1904),  vol.  7,  pp.  225,  413. 

2Fr.  Nansen:  Eskimo  Life,  p.  8. 

3  C.  R.  Markham :  Voyages  of  Baffin,  p.  14.  (Catonle's  Relation).  See  also 
Olaus  Magnus :  A  Compendious  History,  p.  20  (transl.  pub.  by  Streater)  ;  as 
to  Greenland  boats  "not  so  much  above,  as  beneath  the  surface." 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  !$! 

naturally  understand  open  boats,  which  were  all  that  they  had  ever 
seen — except  in  ill-understood  fragments  on  the  Greenland  shore. 
It  is  not  merely,  however,  that  kayaks  would  be  decked  over;  they 
are  more  of  a  garment  or  personal  appendage  than  a  mere  vehicle 
for  water  transit.  "  As  a  rule  each  hunter  makes  his  kayak  for 
himself,  and  it  is  fitted  to  the  man's  size  just  like  a  garment,"  ' 
the  central  "  kayak-ring  "  being  a  boat-combing  and  a  man's  water- 
tight belt  in  one.  The  world  does  not  present  anything  else  quite 
like  this  Eskimo  invention,  and  few  of  that  race  on  open  waters  are 
without  it. 

If  we  consider  the  Skrellings  ("  weaklings  ")  of  Hop  to  be  Indians, 
the  above  items  offer  no  difficulty.  They  went  naked  or  nearly  so, 
because  the  weather  was  mild,  as  at  Nauset,  except  in  the  depth  of 
winter.  They  did  not  use  a  harpoon  and  float,  nor  carve  spirited 
animal  figures  in  bone,  because  the  former  did  not  belong  to  the 
customs  nor  the  latter  to  the  tendencies  and  capabilities  of  their  race. 
Probably  they  had  never  seen  anything  so  Arctic  and  un-Indian  as 
a  dog-sled  or  a  kayak.  But  what  can  be  said  for  an  old-time  Eskimo 
in  Labrador  without  any  of  these  things  ?  Yet  Professor  Fernald,  for 
example,  seems  to  think  that  the  Hop  Skrellings  were  Eskimo  and 
that  Wineland  was  in  Labrador. 

The  brandishing  of  staves  (paddles  ?)  in  the  direction  of  the  sun's 
course  to  show  amity,  or  reversely  by  way  of  defiance,  cannot  be  called 
indicative  of  either  people.  Norse  folklore  would  predispose  the 
observers  to  illusion  on  such  points — witness  the  direful  Moon  2  of 
Wierd  which  traveled  in  the  latter  fashion  about  the  hall  of  Prodis- 
water  before  the  eyes  of  living  men  and  women  doomed  to  ghostly 
hauntings  or  to  death.  The  normal  circuit  would  bear  the  contrary 
and  conciliatory  meaning.  Of  course  Thorfinn  and  Snorri  interpreted 
these  movements  by  the  facial  expression,  the  tones,  and  other  indica- 
tions of  the  mood  of  the  approaching  men.  Finding  themselves 
understood,  the  latter  would  emphasize  and  repeat  the  gesture,  even 
if  it  were  at  first  accidental,  or  would  naturally  reverse  it  to  convey 
a  contrary  message.  But  after  all  the  signs  may  also  have  been 
customary  with  them  exactly  as  seen,  for  these  might  suggest  them- 
selves by  the  contrast  of  natural  and  unnatural  in  any  mind.  They 
tell  us  nothing. 

The  native  boats  came  three  times,  with  dramatically  presented 
climax.  First  "  nine  skin  canoes  "  drawn  by  mere  curiosity  ;  secondly, 


1Fr.  Nansen  :  Eskimo  Life,  p.  46. 

2Eyrbyggja  Saga.    Morris's  and  Magnusson's  translation. 
ii 


152  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

"  a  great  number  of  skin  canoes  rowing  from  the  south  past  the  cape, 
so  numerous  that  it  looked  as  if  coals  had  been  scattered  broadcast 
out  before  the  bay,"  for  they  had  come  to  trade  and  to  feel  safe  in 
trading ;  thirdly,  "  a  great  multitude  of  Skrelling  boats  approaching 
from  the  south  as  if  a  stream  were  pouring  down." 

There  may  be  no  significance  in  the  substitution  of  Skrelling  for 
"  skin  "  in  the  third  mention.  As  they  mistook  paddling  for  rowing — 
unless  the  saga-man,  centuries  after  the  occurrence,  changed  the 
words — perhaps  we  ought  not  to  be  very  certain  about  such  a  detail. 
They  had  seen  at  least  fragments  of  skin-covered  boats  in  Greenland, 
as  we  know  from  Ari  and  Thorkel  Gellison,1  and  may  have  been 
predisposed  to  assume  identity  of  covering  in  two  articles  not  unlike 
at  a  distance,  or  even  very  near,  as  Dr.  Storm  has  suggested.  A 
dark-tinted  birch-bark-covered  canoe,  such  as  I  have  seen  on  the 
shore  of  Lake  Superior,  might  well  be  taken  for  one  covered  with 
equally  dark  and  smooth  porpoise  hide  or  cured  sealskin  or  the  pre- 
pared and  hairless  skin  of  any  marine  animal,  especially  by  a  man  who 
expected  the  latter  and  was  uncritical  in  distinguishing.  Moreover  the 
saga-man  would  remember  the  hide-covered  boats  of  Ireland  and  other 
European  countries,  but  would  never  think  of  tree-bark  as  a  probable 
covering  material.  He  might  even  suppose  that  he  was  making 
a  strictly  necessary  correction  by  such  a  change.  Indeed  both  cover- 
ings are  really  skins,  animal  or  vegetable.  The  name  "  woodskin  " 
is  still  commonly  applied  to  the  bullet-tree  bark  boats  in  use  on  the  Es- 
sequibo  River.  Mr.  Kirke's  Twenty-five  Years  in  British  Guiana2 
presents  a  neat  parallel  (by  reversal)  to  an  error  of  observation  such 
as  Dr.  Storm  suggests  in  this  case.  It  appears  that  a  "  woodskin,"  be- 
ing suddenly  lifted  from  the  water,  was  taken  for  an  alligator  or  some 
other  animal,  hide  and  all,  creating  a  brief  panic,  which  even  the 
Indian  boatman  shared.  So,  vegetable  skin  has  been  and  may  be 
mistaken  for  animal ;  then  why  not  animal  for  vegetable  ? — and  what 
is  there  in  the  bark  of  the  "  black  birch,"  more  than  in  that  of  the 
rubber  tree,  to  secure  immunity  from  mistake  ?  It  may  be  that  many 
people,  considering  the  matter,  have  the  pretty  delicate  bark  of  the 
white  paper  birch  in  mind ;  but  that  would  not  answer.  Indeed,  no 
bark  is  so  good  as  some  woven  fabrics,  and  the  Passamaquoddy  at 
least  have  now  generally  accepted  the  latter  as  canoe-covering ;  for 
the  Indian  is  not  so  hopelessly  unadaptable  as  he  is  painted. 


1  G.  Storm  :  Studies  on  the  Vinelancl  Voyages. 

2  Page  466. 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  153 

But  if  these  were  skin-boats  in  the  animal  sense,  what  then  ?  The 
Eskimo  use  such  undoubtedly,  excepting  the  most  northerly  group, 
Rasmusseirs  People  of  the  Polar  North.  Practically  it  has  been 
the  only  covering  material  available,  as  well  as  the  one  best  fitting 
the  conditions  of  Arctic  life.  They  have  two  kinds,  the  larger  open 
umiak  and  the  smaller  kayak,1  the  latter  being  closed  on  top  quite  to 
the  wearer's  body,  so  that  an  expert  kayaker  can  turn  somersault  in 
the  water.  One  can  hardly  believe  that  any  such  multitude  of  the 
great  umiaks  could  have  been  gathered  as  the  saga  calls  for ;  or  that 
the  Norsemen  would  fail  to  note  instantly  such  an  anomaly  as  a  little 
boat  hugging  the  occupant's  body.  It  is  not  to  be  doubted,  either, 
that  the  ancient  conservative  Eskimo  had  the  kayak  in  Thorfinn's 
time. 

But  some  say  that  Indians  never  used  skin-boats.  It  appears  that 
they  did  when  there  was  a  reason.  The  Dakota2  women  crossed 
prairie  rivers  in  coracles,  or  "  bull-boats  "  of  buffalo-hide  ;  the  Omaha 3 
also  made  skin-covered  boats  and  used  them ;  the  same  assertion  is 
made  of  the  Nascopie,4  and  Dr.  Brinton  5  presents  a  more  strictly 
relevant  instance  in  the  statement  that  the  Beothuk  of  Newfoundland 
had  both  "  bark-canoes  and  skin-canoes."  They  were  not  confined  to 
inland  navigation,  either,  till  the  last.  Whitbourne  (1622)  says: 
"  Which  canoes  are  the  boats  that  they  used  to  go  to  sea  in,"  and  the 
Rev.  George  Patterson,6  who  quotes  him,  remarks :  "  Their  seaman- 
ship was  evinced  by  their  visiting  Funk  Island  40  miles  from  the  near- 
est point  of  land  " — a  trip  which  they  seem  to  have  made  twice  a 
year  after  eggs  and  young  birds.  Cartwright 7  also  lays  stress  on  this 
seafaring  skill.  Unless  Dr.  Brinton  be  in  error,  we  have  only  to  sup- 
pose a  sufficient  southward  extension  of  the  Beothuk  at  the  opening 
of  the  eleventh  century,  and  nothing  remains  of  the  skin-boat  argu- 
ment in  favor  of  the  Eskimo.  Nor  were  these  Beothuk  half-way 
between  the  races,  as  Lieutenant  Holm,  by  analogy  with  the  Aleut, 
seems  to  fancy ;  for  their  appliances,  works,  ways,  and  language,  so 
far  as  yet  rescued  by  ethnologists,  reveal  a  surprising  individuality, 
distinctly  of  the  Indian  type,  though  a  few  things  may  have  been 


1 W.  H.  Dall :  Alaska  and  its  resources,  p.  138. 

2  W  J  McGee  :  The  Siouan  Indians.    Fifteenth  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Amer.  Ethnol., 
p.  172. 

3F.  S.  Dellenbaugh:  The  North  Americans  of  Yesterday,  p.  284. 
4R.  C.  Haliburton  :  A  Search  for  Lost  Colonies.    Pop.  Sci.  Mo.,  vol.  27,  p.  42. 

5  Brinton :  The  American  Race,  pp.  40,  67. 

6  Rev.  Geo.  Patterson  :  The  Beothiks  or  Red  Indians  of  Newfoundland,  p.  126. 

7  Journal  republished  1911. 


154  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

borrowed  from  their  northern  neighbors.     But  we  are  not  at  all 
confined  to  this  Beothuk  hypothesis. 

The  question  is  mainly  one  of  convenience  as  to  material.  The 
Indian  takes  what  is  best  adapted  to  his  purpose  within  the  limits 
of  what  he  can  get.  In  Venezuela  and  the  St.  Lawrence  basin  and 
near  one  tributary  of  the  Amazon  *  he  used  bark  (of  the  bullet  tree, 
the  elm  tree,  the  black  birch  and  perhaps  others)  ;  in  Newfoundland 
he  sometimes  used  "  animal  hides  "  ;  at  the  mouth  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy 
he  now  most  often  uses  water-proof  fabric ;  but  for  temperate  America 
generally  the  old-time  typical  canoe  was  the  "  dug-out,"  hollowed  and 
shaped  from  a  tree-trunk  and  heavy  but  durable.  Something  lighter 
was  needed  for  the  northern  portages  in  the  region  torn  by  the 
glaciers,  and  there  only  the  canoe-birch  offered  itself,  with  the  elm 
as  a  poor  substitute  when  the  former  was  not  plentiful;  also,  going 
northward,  the  size  of  tree  trunks  lessened  until  at  last  a  canoe  could 
not  be  hollowed  and  carved  but  must  be  put  together  as  a  frame  and 
covering. 

The  word  "  canoe  "  on  the  Chesapeake  still  means  primarily  a 
vessel  made  from  one  or  more  tree-trunks.  They  are  often  large,  often 
swift  and  graceful  under  sail,  besides  being  the  most  unsinkable  craft 
afloat ;  and  "  canoe-regattas  "  in  this  sense  have  been  held  annually 
off  Talbot  County  for  many  years. 

This  was  almost  as  exclusively  the  case  in  southern  New  England, 
where  canoe-birch  trees  of  good  size  were  rare,  if  existent,  and  there 
was  little  or  no  need  for  portages.  Verrazano  was  visited  at  Narra- 
gansett  Bay  by  Indians  in  dugouts  only,  and  describes  them ; 
Champlain  tells  us  just  how  they  were  manufactured  farther  north. 
Thus  far,  following  the  general  trend  of  these  arguments,  I  have 
compared  one  kind  of  frame-boat  with  another,  but  it  is  most  likely 
that  the  boats  which  were  paddled  into  Hop  had  no  need  of  any  frame 
or  any  covering,  although  their  dark  and  water-polished  sides  might 
resemble  smooth  bark  or  smooth  hide.  Their  material  of  course 
would  be  really  more  akin  to  the  fireplace  brands  or  dark  wooden 
"coals,"  with  which  in  the  distance  they  are  compared  by  the  saga. 
But  in  truth  our  Norsemen  would  trouble  themselves  little  about  the 
details  of  such  matters.  The  furs  for  sale  and  the  unusual  weapons 
were  far  more  interesting. 

Naturally,  emphasis  has  been  laid  on  the  latter ;  which  were  near 
bringing  destruction  on  the  colony,  and  which  surprise  us  yet. 

Slings  have  long  been  considered  by  many  a  non-Indian  weapon ; 


1  A.  R.  Wallace :  Narrative  of  Travels  on  the  Amazon,  p.  358. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS   TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  155 

and  they  were  used  by  Eskimo  near  Godthaab  in  1586.  Davis1 
narrates :  "  They  with  slings  threw  stones  very  fiercely  into  the  moon- 
light and  strake  one  of  the  men,  then  boatswain,  that  he  overthrew." 
Thorbrand  may  have  'been  overthrown  more  fatally  by  one  at  Hop,  for 
a  "  flat  stone  "  killed  him.  This,  of  course,  might  be  a  tomahawk ; 
but,  the  "  war-slings  "  are  distinctly  mentioned  by  the  saga,  leaving 
no  room  for  doubt.  Thus  far  the  eleventh  century  Skrellings  and 
sixteenth  century  Eskimo  agree  very  well. 

But  it  appears  that  some  of  the  northeastern  Indians  of  the  late 
fifteenth  century  were  slingers  too.  The  map  attributed  to  Sebastian 
Cabot  and  now  in  the  National  Library  at  Paris  is  provided  with  notes 
in  Spanish  and  Latin,  which  Harrisse  2  attributes  to  Grajales,  an  early 
Spanish  editor.  Note  8  is  in  both  languages,  and  includes  a  list  of 
weapons  used  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  Isle  of  St.  John.  Harrisse's 
English  translation  is :  "  This  land  was  discovered  by  John  Cabot  a 
Venetian  and  Sebastian  his  son  the  year  of  the  redemption  of  the 
world  1494  on  the  24th  of  July  at  the  fifth  hour  of  daybreak,  which 
land  they  called  the  first  land  seen  and  a  large  island  opposite  the  same 
St.  John,  because  it  was  discovered  on  the  solemn  festival  of  St. 
John.  The  inhabitants  3  of  that  country  are  dressed  in  the  skins  of 
animals.  They  use  in  war  bows,  arrows,  darts,  lances,  wooden  clubs 
and  slings.''  Note  17  declares  that  the  map  was  delineated  in  1544. 

Hakluyt  appears  to  have  known  of  an  extract  from  a  map  which 
was  "  hung  up  in  the  privy  gaflery  at  Whitehall."  His  copy  in  Latin 
repeats  the  words  sagittis,  hastis  spiculis,  clavis  ligneris  et  fundis. 

A  German  work  in  Latin,  brought  to  light  by  Dr.  Major,  copies 
nineteen  inscriptions  from  a  map  which  the  author  had  seen  in 
Oxford  in  1556,  containing  the  same  entry.  Its  seventeenth  note 
avers  that  "  Sebastian  Cabot,  Captain  and  Pilot,  of  his  Sacred,  etc., 
Majesty  put  upon  me  the  finishing  hand  in  a  plane  figure  in  the  year 
1549."  The  map  at  Paris  4  was  obtained  from  a  Bavarian  clergyman, 
and  its  earlier  history  seems  unknown.  But  it  seems  reasonably  well 
established  that  a  map  was  made  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century  by  or  under  the  direction  of  Sebastian  Cabot  which  attributed 
slings  to  the  Indians  of  St.  John  Island  on  the  American  coast  in 


1  Hakluyt's  Principal  Voyages,  vol.  7,  p.  400.  Also  Markham's  Voyages,  and 
Works  of  John  Davis. 

<2  Trans.  Royal  Soc.  Canada   1898,  p.  105. 

3 Quoted  also  in  Packard:  The  Coast  of  Labrador,  and  in  several  other 
works  before  cited. 

4G.  E.  Weare:  Cabot's  Discovery  of  North  America,  vol.  i,  p.  261. 


156  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

1497.  His  testimony  has  incurred  some  doubt  where  matters  pertain- 
ing to  his  own  achievements  are  concerned,  but  in  this  instance  there 
would  be  but  little  temptation  to  misrepresent. 

Many  have  supposed  the  Isle  of  St.  John  of  the  Cabots  to  be  New- 
foundland itself ;  but  that  they  should  have  recognized,  from  merely 
skirting  the  seaboard,  the  insular  character  of  this  great  mass  of  land 
is  in  the  highest  degree  unlikely,  in  view  of  Cartier's  *  uncertainty 
even  after  he  had  passed  into  the  Gulf  through  the  Strait  of  Belle 
Isle,  which  Cortereal 2  missed  altogether.  Cape  Breton,  Prince 
Edward  Island,  and  Sable  Island  have  each  borne  this  name  on  maps 
or  in  speech  at  various  times,  but  there  are  reasons  against  them  all. 
Most  likely  Avalon  Peninsula,3  shown  as  an  island  by  some  of  the 
older  maps,  was  Cabot's  Isle  of  St.  John.  Its  slingers  would  have 
been  Beothuk,  then,  or  perhaps  invading  Micmac — whom  Fiske  may 
have  had  in  mind  when  stating  in  The  Discovery  of  America  that 
slings  would  be  as  proper  to  Micmac  as  to  Eskimo. 

At  the  present  time  slings4  are  not  found  in  use  at  any  nearer 
point  than  the  Pueblos  of  the  upper  Rio  Grande ;  but  they  hold 
their  ground  very  well  in  many  parts  of  South  America,  always, 
with  Mexico  and  intervening  regions — the  main  home  and  head- 
quarters of  their  race.5  Sling-using  begins  at  the  bottom  of  the  map, 
with  the  almost  Antarctic  and  altogether  wretched  Yahgans  of 
Tierra  del  Fuego ;  and  Bandelier  has  lately  found  it  as  active  as  ever 
in  the  village  fights  beside  Lake  Titicaca,  the  cradle  of  the  most 
humane  culture  and  the  widest  and  best  ordered  governmental  organi- 
zation in  the  New  World  before  the  white  man  came.  He  writes :  ° 
"  A  number  are  badly  wounded  now  and  then  and  some  of  them  are 
killed,  for  the  Indian  is  a  dangerous  expert  with  the  sling."  Again 
we  read  of  "  his  sling,  for  which  the  women  provide  round  pebbles  in 
their  skirts." 

At  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  sling-territory  extended 
very  much  farther  northward.  Maya  cities  employed  this  weapon. 
Aztec  armies  had  their  slingers  no  less  than  those  of  the  Incas.  Dr. 
Friederici,7  gleaning  from  early  Spanish,  French,  and  English  narra- 

1  J.  Winsor :  From  Cartier  to  Frontenac.     Narr.  Crit.  Hist.  Amer. 

2W.  S.  Wallace's  Historical  Introduction  to  Labrador,"  by  W.  T.  Grenfell 
and  others. 

3  M.  F.  Howley :  The  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Newfoundland,  p.  53. 

4 Where  they  are  chiefly  in  use  by  children,  as  Mr.  Spinden  of  the 
Am.  Museum  relates. 

5Brinton:  The  American  Race,  p.  331. 

6  A.  F.  Bandelier:  The  Islands  of  Titicaca  and  Koati,  pp.  88,  115. 

7  A.  Petermann's  Geographische  Mitteilungen,  1911,  Heft  2  (pi.  13). 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  157 

tives,  offers  us  a  map  based  on  the  use  of  slings  and  blowguns  in  which 
the  former  are  given  an  immense  area  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  country 
and  the  Pacific  coast ;  also  extended  in  a  very  narrow  fringe  along 
the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Atlantic  as  far  as  Hudson 
River.  Even  allowing  for  some  misreports  and  misunderstandings, 
we  cannot  fail  to  see  a  progressive  yielding  of  territory  through  the 
centuries.  Apparently  the  sling1  is  an  archaic  American  weapon, 
once  of  general  prevalence,  which  has  gradually  given  way  to  the  bow 
and  vanished  before  the  rifle,  holding  out  best  in  isolated  nooks,  or 
for  special  uses,  or  where  favored  by  natural  conditions.  That  it 
was  not  found  by  Miles  Standish  at  Plymouth  and  Narragansett  by 
no  means  makes  its  presence  there  improbable  six  hundred  years 
earlier. 

The  great  noisy  body  which  was  cast  on  the  ground  behind  the 
Norsemen  is  something  quite  unique  in  historic  Indian  warfare. 
Higginson2  suggested  that  it  might  be  a  harpoon  with  a  bladder 
float.  Schoolcraft 3  more  plausibly  identified  it  with  a  traditional 
but  long  obsolete  form  of  giant  club  wielded  by  several  men  and  said  to 
have  been  in  use  during  the  severe  wars  of  the  Ojibwa,  fiercest  and 
most  powerful  of  Algonquian  tribes,  as  they  moved  westward  to  the 
upper  lakes.  It  was  prepared  by  shrinking  a  deer's  hide  around  a 
large  and  heavy  stone  and  on  the  end  of  a  pole,  to  which  it  was  bound. 
Of  course  the  crashing  effect  would  be  great.  But  it  does  not  fully 
correspond  to  the  Skrellings'  monstrous  and  unheard  of  creation. 

The  Skrellings  raised  up  on  poles  a  great  ball-shaped  body,  almost  the  size 
of  a  sheep's  belly  and  nearly  black  in  color,  and  this  they  hurled  from  the 
poles  upon  the  land  above  Karlsefni's  followers  and  it  made  a  frightful  noise 
where  it  fell.  Whereat  a  great  fear  fell  upon  Karlsefni  and  all  his  men,  for  it 
seemed  to  them  that  the  troop  of  the  Skrellings  was  rushing  toward  them  from 
every  side. 

The  nearest  analogue  would  be  a  hand-grenade  ;  but  Thorfinn  could 
not  know  of  such  a  thing.  Before  the  arrival  of  the  next  white  men, 
it  was  utterly  forgotten.  Whether  truly  reported  in  the  saga  or  not, 
it  stands  an  unsolved  mystery,  having  a  very  ancient  look. 

Dr.  Fiske  accepted  Schoolcraft's  Ojibwa  explanation  as  conclu- 
sive. Nevertheless,  Mr.  James  Mooney,  who  has  spent  much  time 
among  divers  Indian  tribes,  tells  me  that  he  cannot  make  it  agree 

1  For  instances  of   former  use  in  what  is  now  Spanish- America    consult 
Herbert  Spencer's  Descriptive  Sociology,  part  2,  the  works  of  Brinton,  Mark- 
ham,  H.  H.  Bancroft,  and  others  already  cited. 

2  T.  W.  Higginson  and  W.  MacDonald :  History  of  the  United  States.  Edition 

P-  39- 
3 H.  R.  Schoolcraft:  American  Indians,  vol.  I,  p.  73. 


158  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

with  what  he  knows  of  Indian  fighting.  Besides,  though  a  four-man 
club,  for  all  its  clumsiness,  might  cause  alarm  and  do  damage,  it  could 
hardly  strike  on  the  ground  beyond  the  enemy,  making  such  an  uproar 
as  to  suggest  an  attack  from  the  rear  by  another  "  troop  "  descending 
on  them  "  from  the  land  "  to  cut  off  their  retreat. 

Here  was  the  situation :  Karlsefni's  men  drawn  up  before  the  first 
houses  near  the  bay  shore,  with  the  river  on  their  right,  the  ground 
sloping  up  behind  them  to  the  woods,  and  assailed  in  front  by  a  multi- 
tude of  enemies  who  sprang  from  their  canoes  as  these  touched  the 
land.  Almost  certainly  some  of  them  would  turn  the  position  by 
ascending  the  river,  awakening  disquiet.  Amid*  a  shower  of  sling- 
stones,  arrows,  and  tomahawks,  which  the  Icelanders  were  too  few  to 
adequately  answer,  there  is  a  rush  of  a  group  of  Indians  carrying 
great  poles,  with  something  huge,  black,  and  uncanny  poised  above, 
them,  and  this  is  cast,  amid  such  a  pandemonium  of  sound  as  wild 
Indians  best  can  raise,  over  the  heads  of  the  defenders,  beyond  them 
on  the  ground,  where  there  is  a  tremendous  additional  uproar,  rein- 
forced by  the  echoes  from  the  wood  border.  At  once  the  Norsemen 
feel,  hear  (and  so  see)  enemies,  on  every  side;  panic  takes  them  and 
they  rush  for  a  more  defensible  position,  the  women  streaming  out  of 
the  string  of  cabins  to  join  the  race,  and  Thorbrand,  son  of  Snorri, 
Karlsefni's  friend,  being  stricken  down  just  ahead  of  Freydis 
within  the  wood-border  by  one  of  the  missiles  that  come  showering 
after  them.  She  snatches  his  sword  and  turns,  wild  with  fear  and 
defiant  anger,  just  as  the  Norsemen,  rallying,  turn  also  on  the  wooded 
Fall  River  Bluffs  behind  her,  and  come  back  ashamed  of  their  fear. 
Then  the  Indians,  not  always  good  at  pressing  home  a  victory  won, 
(or  they  might  have  annihilated  Braddock's  force  notwithstanding 
the  rear-guard  stand  of  the  colonial  rangers),  yield  in  their  turn  and 
paddle  away. 

This  is  all  consistent  and  most  probable,  granting  the  original 
panic,  but  something  more  than  "  a  giant  club  "  is  required  to  explain 
it.  Thus  far  a  satisfactory  explanation  is  not  forthcoming.  Possibly 
the  solid  "  demon's  head  "  suggested  a  hollow  one,  capable  of  being 
detachable  from  its  support  and  cast  by  several  poles  together  a  good 
way  up  the  hillside.  If  not  some  such  clever  invention  of  the  moment, 
it  must  be  a  Norse  reminiscence  incorporated  by  the  saga-man,  as 
Dr.  Nansen  *  has  acutely  suggested. 


1  Fr.  Nansen  :  In  Northern  Mists,  vol.  2 ,  p.  8. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  159 

i7._REVIEW  OF  DR.  NANSEN'S  CONCLUSIONS 
The  more  significant  of  Dr.  Nansen' s  *  observations  in  regard  to 
the  Norsemen  in  America  have  been  briefly  considered  in  relevant 
parts  of  the  foregoing  chapters.  He  has  certainly  added  some 
valuable  items  of  fact  and  gathered  a  most  welcome  array  of  ancient 
and  medieval  description,  folk-lore,  and  mythology  concerning  de- 
lightful islands,  real  or  fancied,  such  as  the  fourteenth,  fifteenth,  six- 
teenth and  seventeenth  century  maps  show  to  us  plentifully  and  the 
beliefs  concerning  which  have  long  been  known  in  a  general  way  to 
readers  interested  in  such  topics.  Perhaps  he  has  not  sufficiently  set 
forth  the  great  contrast  between  the  florid  and  preposterous  extrav- 
agances of  the  Celtic  sea  stories  and  the  sanity  of  the  exploring  part 
of  Thorfinn  Karlsefni's  story,  and  of  all  that  concerns  him,  indeed, 
Leif's  story  also,  wherein  can  be  found  only  a  bare  hint  of  the  occult, 
such  as  people  even  of  our  own  time  never  quite  wholly  and  conclu- 
sively disbelieve.  He  may  have  made  it  even  more  nearly  certain 
if  possible  than  before  that  the  Celtic  and  Scandinavian  sea  tales, 
meeting  in  Ireland  and  Iceland,  had  a  moderate  reciprocal  influence ; 
but  if  the  Icelanders  were  indebted  mainly  to  Ireland  for  the  name 
and  story  of  Wineland,  it  seems  entirely  probable  that  their  borrowing 
would  have  included  in  great  measure  the  distinctive  extravagances 
of  Bran,  Maelduin,  St.  Brandan,  and  their  kind.  It  almost  passes  the 
bounds  of  possibility  that  the  saga-man  who  wove  the  spectral  marvels 
and  picturesque  magic  of  his  own  people  into  the  Greenland  part  of  his 
narrative  should  have  ignored  all  the  prodigies  and  impressive  insular 
unrealities  of  the  Irish  writings  and  traditions  if  really  familiar  with 
them  and  drawing  from  that  source  in  the  exploring  part  of  his  story 
— and  have  confined  himself  almost  entirely  to  matter-of-fact  items, 
which  fit  with  such  astonishing  accuracy  the  probable  American  shore- 
line of  his  time  and  the  absolute  certainties  of  American  vegetable  and 
animal  life.  The  voyage  record  seems  to  be  an  accurate  report, 
detailed  though  brief,  as  sensible  and  as  credible  in' all  essentials  as 
any  modern  official  document. 

Dr.  Nansen  asserts  that  the  Norsemen  "  steered  straight  across  the 
Atlantic  itself  and  discovered  North  America  " ; 2  that  the  "  open 
craft  of  the  Norwegian  Vikings,  with  their  square  sails,  fared  north 
and  west  over  the  whole  ocean,  from  Novaya  Zemlya  and  Spitsbergen 
to  Greenland,  Baffin's  Bay,  Newfoundland  and  North  America  " ; 3 


'Fridtjof  Nansen:    In  Northern  Mists.    Arctic  Exploration  in  Early  Times; 
translated  by  Arthur  G.  Chater;  New  York,  1911,  vol.  2,  pp.  58-62. 
Ubid.,  p.  234. 
3  Ibid.,  p.  248. 


l6O  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

also  that  they  visited  Cape  Breton  (Keelness),  the  Wonderstrands 
below  it,  and  some  point  yet  farther  down  the  coast  where  they  met 
Indians  and  not  Eskimo.  He  accepts  their  Helluland  as  probably 
Labrador,  Markland  as  Newfoundland,  and,  as  above,  the  discovery  of 
the  region  called  Wineland  in  the  saga,  though  questioning  the  name 
or  its  implication. 

He  lays  even  an  excessive  stress,  it  seems  to  me,  on  the  entry  in 
Icelandic  annals,  one  at  least  being  nearly  contemporary,  of  the  Green- 
land ship  driven  by  stress  of  weather  to  Iceland  in  1347,  her  crew 
reporting  an  intervening  visit  to  Markland.  But,  after  all,  how  can 
he  be  sure  that  these  seamen  told  the  truth  ?  Why  are  they  more  trust- 
worthy than  Gudleif,  whose  visit  to  Biorn  in  some  land  of  the  west 
has  been  mentioned  already,  except  that  he  gives  us  tests  of  accuracy 
which  fail,  and  their  meager  story  supplies  no  tests?  Moreover,  are 
we  quite  sure  of  the  accuracy  of  the  first  annalist  and  possible  inter- 
vening narrators  ?  The  statement  is  a  bare  sentence  or  two  in  length, 
credible  enough  in  view  of  what  we  know  from  the  saga  and  valuable 
as  cumulative  corroboration.  But  it  will  not  do  for  the  historic  cor- 
nerstone of  any  evidence;  nor  does  it  make  Markland  a  whit  more 
historic  that  Helluland  or  Wineland.  The  main  features  of  the  ex- 
ploring part  of  the  saga  tale  are  connected  in  a  chain  and  of  the  same 
degree  of  reliability.  They  must  stand  or  fall  together. 

If  the  name  Wineland  be  objectionable,  we  might  give  up  the 
poetry  of  it  without  disaster.  As  above  indicated,  Dr.  Nansen  seems 
to  agree  exactly  and  fully  with  our  version  of  the  itinerary  of  these 
early  explorers,  at  least  as  far  as  the  Atlantic  coast  below  Cape  Breton 
island  and  their  temporary  settlement  in  a  more  southerly  Indian- 
populated  region,  called  Hop,  in  the  saga.  Beyond  that  he  sum- 
marizes his  conclusions  under  the  following  twenty-two  points  which 
it  seems  proper  here  to  consider  in  succession,  with  some  comments 
from  my  own  observations.  Dr.  Nansen  says  : * 

If  we  now  look  back  upon  all  the  problems  it  has  been  sought  to  solve  in 
this  chapter,  the  impression  may  be  a  somewhat  heterogeneous  and  negative 
one;  the  majority  will  doubtless  be  struck  at  the  outset  by  the  multiplicity  of  the 
paths,  and  by  the  intercrossing  due  to  this  multiplicity.  But  if  we  force  our 
way  through  the  network  of  by-paths  and  follow  up  the  essential  leading  lines, 
it  appears  to  me  that  there  is  established  a  firm  and  powerful  series  of  conclu- 
sions, which  it  will  not  be  easy  to  shake.  The  most  important  steps  in  this 
series  are : 

(i)  The  oldest  authority,2  Adam  of  Bremen's  work,  in  which  Wineland  is 
mentioned,  is  untrustworthy,  and  with  the  exception  of  the  name  and  of  the 


1In  Northern  Mists,  vol.  2,  pp.  58  et  seq. 

2  The  Ringerike  runic  stone  is  not  given  here,  as  its  mention  of  Wineland 
is  uncertain. 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  l6l 

fable  of  wine  being  produced  there,  contains  nothing  beyond  what  is  found  in 
Isidore. 

Adam  of  Bremen  wrote  true  things  as  well  as  marvels,  just  as 
many  writers  from  his  time  and  long  afterward  have  done.  He  may 
be  trusted  within  reason,  as  well  as  those.  He  is  careful  to  insist  that 
this  statement  in  regard  to  the  wheat  and  wine  is  no  marvel,  but  literal 
truth.  What  he  wrote  would  be  true  of  the  American  coast  and  would 
be  especially  true  of  its  distinctive  conspicuous  food  supplies  in  the 
latitudes  we  have  pointed  out,  before  the  coming  of  maize.  The  wine- 
making  fine  large  grapes  have  Strachey's  corroboration,  also  Lescar- 
bot's.  They  are  here  still.  They  make  strongly  for  verisimilitude 
and  to  the  saga's  credit. 

(2)  The  oldest  Icelandic  authorities  that  mention  the  name  of  "  Vinland," 
or  in  the  "  Landnama,"  "  Vindland  hit  Gofta,"  say  nothing  about  its  discovery 
or  about  the  wine  there;  on  the  other  hand,  Ari  Frode  mentions  the  "  Skrael- 
ings  "  (who  must  originally  have  been  regarded  as  a  fairy  people).    The  name 
of  Leif  Ericson  is  mentioned,  unconnected  with  Wineland  or  its  discovery. 

Full  statements  could  not  be  expected  in  each  relic  of  an  ancient 
fragmentary  literature.  Ari's  lost  Islendingabok  probably  set  forth 
the  full  account.  Entries  a  little  later  present  the  above  items  to- 
gether. Mere  evidence  by  omission  is  rarely  cogent.  It  cannot  reas- 
onably override  the  positive  evidence  referred  to  and  the  general 
prevailing  tradition.  If  it  could,  it  would  merely  change  the  name 
of  the  discoverer,  for  it  is  admitted  that  some  one  sailed  from  Norway 
and  found  America  by  the  direct  passage.  If  not  Leif,  who  shall  be 
named  ?  And  is  there  more  evidence  that  an  anonymous  Norseman 
did  it  rather  than  that  Leif  did  it  ? 

(3)  It  is  not  till  well  on  in  the  thirteenth  century  that  Leif's  surname  of 
Heppni,  his   discovery  of  Wineland    ("Vinland"  or  "Vindland"),  and  his 
Christianizing  of  Greenland  are  mentioned  (in  the  "  Kristni-saga  "  and  "  Heim- 
skringla"),  but  still  there  is  nothing  about  wine. 

This  fact  may  be  unfortunate,  but  what  does  it  disprove?  His 
father  Eric  was  never  called  "  Lucky  "  so  far  as  we  know,  yet  he 
created  Norse  Greenland.  It  does  not  seem  important  that  a  man's 
epithet  should  always  be  found  with  his  name  in  the  few  surviving 
pre-thirteenth-century  manuscripts. 

(4)  It  is  not  till  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century  that  any  information 
occurs  as  to  what  and  where  Wineland  was,  with  statements  as  to  the  wine  and 
wheat  there,  and  a  description  of  voyages  thither  (in  the  Saga  of  Eric  the  Red). 
But  still  the  accounts  omit  to  inform  us  who  gave  the  name  and  why. 

In  other  words,  the  location  of  Wineland  was  not  mentioned  so 
far  as  we  know,  till  Hauk  Erlendsson  made  the  earliest  copy  of  the 


l62  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

saga  and  of  Landnamabok  that  happens  to  survive.  In  merely  Ice- 
landic records  and  stories  we  have  no  right  to  expect  such  informa- 
tion unless  from  Islendingabok,  which  is  lost.  The  situation  is  a 
natural  one.  If  Hauksbook  had  happened  to  be  destroyed  the  date 
must  have  been  carried  along  further  still,  and  that  would  yet  prove 
nothing,  except  that  our  evidence  would  be  less  in  volume  and  force. 

(5)  The  second  and  later  principal  narrative  of  voyages  to  Wineland   (the 
Flateyjarbook's  "  Groenlendinga-pattr  ")   gives  a  very  different  account  of  the 
discovery,  by  another,  and  likewise  of  the  later  voyages  thither. 

That  is  true.  The  natural  course  of  development  is  for  a  later 
version  to  elaborate  hints  and  weave  stories  about  names,  filling  in  any 
floating  legendary  data  which  may  come  to  hand.  This  is  especially 
true  in  a  decadent  artificial  period,  even  at  its  beginning.  The  Flatey- 
book  narrative  is  not  unique  in  its  method  and  qualities,  but  is  a  very 
bad  example. 

(6)  The  first  of  the  two  sagas,  and  the  one  which  is  regarded  as  more  to  be 
relied  on,  contains   scarcely  a  single   feature  that  is  not  wholly  or  in  part 
mythical  or  borrowed  from  elsewhere ;  both  sagas  have  an  air  of  romance. 

This  is  far  from  the  case,  for  Helluland,  Markland,  Kiallarness,  are 
all  admitted  by  Nansen  to  exist.  Straumey,  Straumfiord,  the  moun- 
tains, Hop,  the  seal  headland  are  veritable.  The  courses  around  the 
great  ness  into  and  out  of  the  Gulf  are  accurately  and  carefully  given. 
Biarney  is  true  to  fact.  The  Wonderstrands  are  the  typical  American 
coast  line  found  on  no  other  Atlantic  shore  of  which  any  Icelander 
short  of  the  fifteenth  century  would  be  likely  even  to  hear.  The 
Indians,  products,  climate,  and  breeding  places  are  authentic.  The 
Uniped  was  probably  an  Eskimo  in  his  kayak.  The  Greenland  part 
of  the  tale  has  many  embroideries  of  fancy.  The.re  are  divers  ballads 
turned  to  prose  attached  to  the  exploring  narrative ;  but  they  do  not 
invalidate  or  obscure  it.  The  saga-man  might  have  chosen  ad 
libitum  magical  cats  and  dog-footed  monsters,  the  roc-phoenix  and 
the  island  of  unending  laughter,  holy  white-furred  hermits  and  angels 
who  waited  on  the  table,  Judas  and  his  hounding  devils,  the  sea- 
monster  that  took  the  saint  a-traveling  on  its  back,  the  isle  of  women, 
the  pool  of  youth,  and  the  river  of  death.  His  Celtic  sources  (as 
supposed)  would  have  done  this.  Why  did  he  stick  to  the  facts  in- 
stead? Surely  because  he  was  not  following  Celtic  models,  but 
relating  facts. 

(7)  Even  among  the  Greeks  of  antiquity  we  find  myths  of  fortunate  isles  far 
in  the  western  ocean,  with  the  two  characteristic  features  of  Wineland,  the 
wine  and  the  wheat. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  163 

It  is  true  that  men  learned  very  early  of  lovely  Mediterranean 
islands  and  drew  on  their  memory  of  reality  to  picture  others,  some- 
times real,  sometimes  unreal.  Myths  attached  themselves  to  both. 
Afterward  the  Canaries  supplied  material  in  the  same  way.  Some- 
times they  \vere  called  isles  of  the  blest  or  earthly  paradises,  with 
good  reason  and  decorated  by  the  exaggeration  of  poetry  and  legend 
with  supernal  additional  delights;  sometimes  their  lovely  character- 
istics were  transferred  by  sailors'  fancy  to  islands  farther  out  at  sea. 
Some  of  the  latter  were  real ;  we  know  them  as  the  Azores  and 
Madeira ;  the  fourteenth  century  map-makers  knew  them  un- 
doubtingly  as  The  Fortunate  Isles  of  St.  Brandan.  Their  obvious 
attributes  corroborated  the  ideal.  We  are  not  justified  in  saying  con- 
clusively that  this  was  or  was  not  the  end  of  the  process.  But  if 
anyone  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  warm  latitudes,  as  Cabral  did  by  acci- 
dent and  Columbus  by  intention,  they  would  find  like  beauties 
repeated.  Before  "  mythical  islands  "  can  justly  be  used  to  disprove 
anything  we  must  be  sure  they  were  mythical.  Even  then  it  would 
not  be  necessary  to  assume  that  men,  in  reporting  things  that  really 
are,  had  borrowed  from  fanciful  stories. 

(8)  The  most  significant  features  in  the  description  of  these  Fortunate  Isles, 
or  Isles  of  the  Blest,  in  late  classical  times  and  in  Isidore  are  the  self-grown  or 
wild-growing  vine  (on  the  heights)  and  the  wild-growing  (uncultivated,  self- 
sown  or  unsown)  corn  or  wheat  or  even  cornfields  (Isidore).  In  addition  there 
were  lofty  trees  (Pliny)  and  mild  winters.  Thus  a  complete  correspondence 
with  the  saga's  description  of  Wineland. 

Great  trees  are  common  in  many  parts  of  the  world,  so  are  mild 
winters  in  southerly  regions  on  the  same  longitudinal  line.  But 
Isidore  says  nothing  to  strongly  suggest  wild  growing  grain  seen  in 
low  places  by  men  entering  an  estuary  with  grape-vines  on  the  hills 
above  it.  Neither  does  Pliny  nor  any  other  authority  cited.  The 
combination  is  distinctly  American  on  the  Atlantic  slope  not  far 
from  the  sea  and  within  the  limits  of  the  large  fox  grape  though  no 
doubt  it  might  occur  elsewhere.  Thorfinn  gives  this  for-H6p. 

Nansen,  however,  has  certainly  shown  (if  messis  be  taken  to  neces- 
sarily mean  grain)  a  fair  anticipation  of  Adam's  celebrated  state- 
ment, but  the  coincidence  may  well  grow  out  of  parallel  facts.  There 
is  no  real  evidence  of  derivation  by  him  from  Isidore  of  Seville  or 
from  Pliny ;  but  there  may  well  have  been  grape-festooned  islands  of 
the  eastern  Atlantic  on  which  some  form  of  wild  grain  or  grain  run 
wild  might  be  found.  It  is  not  pretended  that  fox-grapes  and  our 
wild  rice  are  the  only  wild  grapes  fit  for  wine  and  the  only  self-sown 
grain  in  the  world. 


164  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

(9)  The  various  attempts  that  have  been  made  to  bring  the  natural  conditions 
of  the  North  American  coast  into  agreement  with  the  saga's  description  of 
Wineland  are  more  or  less  artificial,  and  no  natural  explanation  has  been  offered 
of  how  the  two  ideas  of  wine  and  wheat,  both  foreign  to  the  Northerners,  could 
have  become  the  distinguishing  marks  of  the  country. 

The  coast  line  has  changed  in  nine  hundred  years  by  the  lifting 
of  the  northern  part,  which  probably  included  Straumey  and  all 
above  it  and  by  the  depression  of  the  lower  part,  which  probably 
included  Hop  and  all  below.  I  believe  I  am  the  first  one  to  call  atten- 
tion to  this  change  in  the  coast  line  in  connection  with  the  present 
subject.1  There  has  also  been  error  in  confusing  the  little  squirrel 
grapes  with  the  large  fox  grapes,  which  were  probably  not  plentiful 
along  the  shore  above  southern  Maine  and  only  locally  there.  We 
find  also  a  like  error  as  to  wild  rice,  which  ought  not  to  be  expected 
in  any  quantity  on  or  near  bold  shores  like  those  along  the  Atlantic 
above  the  Kennebec. 

It  may  be  that  Norsemen  could  not  raise  wheat  or  make  wine 
at  home,  but  they  were  acquainted  with  both  from  their  service  in 
more  southern  countries  and  their  hostile  expeditions,  even  as  early 
as  the  fifth  century  (see  Nansen's  In  Northern  Mists),  into  the  mid- 
dle of  the  Mediterranean.  Some  of  their  men  would  be  sure  to  have 
a  general  knowledge  of  wine-making.  The  very  fact  that  these  things 
were  not  to  be  had  at  home,  but  grew  wild  in  the  new  world  would 
make  them  prized  and  held  as  characteristic  of  the  new  found  lands. 
That  the  "  wheat  "  was  not  real  wheat,  but  only  a  wholesome  and 
abundant  substitute,  would  make  no  difference ;  though  the  wine 
would  take  first  place.  The  country  where  such  things  were  to  be 
had  for  the  gathering  could  be  nothing  but  "  Wineland  the  Good," 
with  no  need  for  aid  from  fairy  attributes,  though  the  peculiar  form 
of  the  name  perhaps  might  be  influenced  by  the  Fortunate  Islands, 
namely  the  Canaries  or  Madeira  (d'Legname — that  is,  Markland), 
Porto  Santo  and  perhaps  Pico  and  companions,  with  their  undeniable 
beauty  and  the  half  classical  half  northern-pagan  myths,  which  per- 
sistently clung  to  them. 

(10)  In  Ireland  long  before  the  eleventh  century  there  were  many  myths  and 
legends  of  happy  lands  far  out  in  the  ocean  to  the  west ;  and  in  the  description 
of  these  wine  and  the  vine  form  conspicuous  features. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  the  vine  is  not  very  conspicuous  in  Irish  voyage 
legend.  Still  Irishmen  often  reached  countries  which  had  the  vine 


1  See  Chapter  16  herein,  also  article  in  the  Smithsonian  Report  for  1897  on 
the  Rising  of  Land  Around  Hudson  Bay,  by  Robert  Bell,  of  the  Geological 
Survev  of  Canada. 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  165 

and  there  must  have  been  clivers  European  and  perhaps  Atlantic  spots 
where  good  grapes  yet  grew  wild.  If  they  reached  America,  as  they 
probably  did,  they  would  find  such  in  abundance.  But  Irish  fancy 
working  on  cultivated  grapes  might  add  the  element  of  wildness, 
even  without  any  information  as  to  the  latter  in  either  hemisphere. 

(n)  From  the  eleventh  century  onward,  in  Ireland  and  in  the  North,  we  meet 
with  a  Grape-island  or  a  Wineland,  which  it  seems  most  reasonable  to  suppose 
the  same. 

We  also  meet  apple  islands,  for  example,  the  Hesperides?  From 
memory,  I  think  the  latter  fruit  more  common  in  Irish  and  other 
northern  legend.  Nevertheless  the  saga  and  the  old  Icelandic  writ- 
ings omit  to  place  apples  in  America;  and  in  fact  none  were  there. 
Why  were  not  the  apples  borrowed  from  Ireland,  if  the  grapes  were  ? 

(12)  From  the  Landnamabook  it  may  be  naturally  concluded  that  in  the 
eleventh  century  the  Icelanders  had  heard  of  Wineland,  together  with  Hvitra- 
manna-land,  in  Ireland. 

Each  country  may  have  heard  it  from  the  other,  both  items  being 
common  property  by  that  time.  Perhaps  the  name  Great  Ireland  or 
Whitemen's  Land  may  have  a  presumption  in  favor  of  Irish  origin. 
There  can  be  none  for  the  Irish  origin  of  Wineland.  It  is  likely  that 
Ireland  first  heard  it  from  Iceland  soon  after  Thorfinn's  return  to 
the  former. 

(13)  Thorkel  Gellisson,  from  whom  this  information  is  derived,  probably 
also  furnished  Ari  Frode  with  his  statement  in  the  Islendingabook  about  Wine- 
land;  this  is  therefore  probably  the  same  Irish  land. 

He  is  given  as  one  transmitter  of  the  Ari  Marsson  story,  deriving 
it  from  the  Earl  of  the  Orkneys.  He  supplied  the  Greenland  infor- 
mation of  Ari  Frode,  having  visited  that  country ;  perhaps  also  some 
about  Wineland.  But  how  can  this  disprove  the  existence  of  the 
latter? 

(14)  The  Irish  happy  lands  peopled  by  the  sid  correspond  to  the  Norwegian 
huldrelands  out  in  the  sea  to  the  west,  and  the  Icelandic  elf-lands. 

There  is  a  general  correspondence  in  fairy  lore  and  the  like  every- 
where. But  we  know  that  there  were  real  far  western  islands,  as 
well  as  dubious  and  fanciful  ones,  and  that  everything  between  Eu- 
rope and  Asia  was  held  to  be  an  island  until  after  Vespucius. 

(15)  Since  the  huldre-  and  sid-people  and  the  elves  are  originally  the  dead, 
and  since  the  Isles  of  the  Blest,  or  the  Fortunate  Isles,  of  antiquity  were  the 
habitations  of  the  happy  dead,  these  islands  also  correspond  to  the  Irish  sid- 
people's  happy  lands,  and  to  the  Norwegian  huldrelands  and  the  Icelandic  elf- 
lands. 


l66  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

These  mythical  folk  probably  are  not  always  nor  usually  the 
"  happy  dead."  Many  different  elements  combine  in  the  fairies  and 
people  of  the  underworld,  for  example,  traditional  memories  of  real 
aborigines  who  hid  underground;  fancies  born  of  the  play  of  light 
and  shade ;  and  ideals  of  gods  fallen  from  their  high  estate. 

The  Fortunate  Isles  of  St.  Brandan  continued  to  be  called  so  for 
at  least  half  a  century  after  they  were  accurately  mapped  and  well 
known.  Must  we  suppose  that  the  Genoese  and  Norman  skippers 
persisted  in  regarding  them  as  trie  abodes  of  the  happy  dead  ? 

(16)  The  additional  name  of  "hit  Gofta"  for  the  happy  Wineland  and  the 
name  "  Landit  G6$a "  for  huldrelands  in  Norway  correspond  directly  to  the 
name  of  "  Insulse  Fortunate,"  which  in  itself  could  not  very  well  take  any  other 
Norse  form.    And  as,  in  addition,  the  huldrelands  were  imagined  as  specially 
good  and  fertile,  and  the  underground,  huldre-  and  sid-people,  or  elves,  are 
called  the  "  good  people,"  and  are  everywhere  in  different  countries  associated 
with  the  idea  of  "good,"  this  gives  a  natural  explanation  of  both  the  Norse 
names. 

Brazil  Island,  sometimes  called  the  Fortunate  Island  of  the  Irish, 
and  St.  Brandan's  Fortunate  Islands,  one  of  which  still  bears  its 
fourteenth  century  name  of  Porto  Santo,  would  influence  the  ideal  no 
doubt,  but  we  cannot  wipe  Porto  Santo  off  the  map  and  Brazil  prob- 
ably was  as  real. 

(17)  The  name  "  Vinland  hit  Go'Sa"  has  a  foreign  effect  in  Norse  nomen- 
clature ;  it  must  be  a  hybrid  of  Norse  and  foreign  nomenclature,  through  "  Vin- 
land "  being  combined  with  "  Landit  Gofta,"  which  probably  originated  in  a 
translation  of  "  Insulse  Fortunate." 

The  combination  and  translation  may  have  happened.  It  is  no 
more  surprising  that  Insuloe  Fortunatse  should  be  transferred  in  this 
way  than  that  Markland  should  be  shifted  from  one  of  them  to 
Newfoundland.  Either  name  of  the  saga  may  commemorate  such  a 
transfer ;  and  either  may  be  a  very  natural  coincidence.  A  name  of 
mythical  association  may  well  be  applied,  and  often  has  been  applied, 
to  a  real  region.  Moreover,  the  saga  is  not  accountable  for  this 
phrase,  nor  does  Adam  of  Bremen  use  it.  What  men  reported  in 
the  eleventh  century  should  not  bear  the  burden,  however  light,  of 
adjectives  or  fancies  of  the  twelfth  or  thirteenth. 

(18)  The    probability   of   the    name   of    Skrselings    for    the    inhabitants    of 
Wineland  having  originally  meant  brownies,  or  trolls,  that  is,  small  huldrefolk, 
elves,  or  pygmies,  entirely  agrees  with  the  view  that  Wineland  was  originally 
the  fairy  country,  the  Fortunate  Isles  in  the  west  of  the  ocean. 

If  so,  the  word  was  doubtless  applied  to  the  natives  in  the  same 
spirit  that  Icelandic  men  in  fight  sometimes  abusively  addressed  their 
opponents  as  "  trolls  "  for  example,  see  The  Saga  on  the  Heath-Slay- 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  l6/ 

ings.  But  was  it  used  prior  to  the  voyages  of  Thorfinn  and  Leif  ?  If 
used  in  Greenland,  it  might  easily  be  transferred  to  other  savages.  It 
does  not  seem  to  prove  anything,  although,  if  shown  to  have  a  magical 
implication,  it  would  establish  the  existence  of  the  same  point  of  view 
for  Eskimo  and  Indians  as  for  Lapps — in  itself  not  unlikely.  Dr. 
Nansen  supplies  an  excellent  precedent  in  the  use  of  Finn  for  three 
races  and  with  implication  of  magic.  But  what  is  the  proof  that 
Skraelings  originally  meant  fairy  folk  and  to  what  period  does 
"  originally  "  refer  ?  Our  first  introduction  to  them  is  through  Thor- 
finn, who  trafficked  with  them  as  human  beings  and  fought  and  killed 
them. 

(19)  The  statement  of  the  Icelandic  geography,  that,  in  the  opinon  of  some, 
Wineland  the  Good  was  connected  with  Africa,  and  the  fact  that  the  Norwegian 
work,  "  Historia  Norvegiae,"  calls  Wineland  (with  Markland  and  Helluland) 
the  African  Islands,  are  direct  evidence  that  the  Norse  Wineland  was  the 
Insulae  Fortunatae,  which  together  with  the  Gorgades  and  the  Hesperides  were 
precisely  the  African  Islands. 

Not  of  identity,  but  of  supposed  neighborhood  in  extension ;  also 
of  a  warm  climate  and  luxuriance.  This  I  have  said  elsewhere.  It 
does  not  touch  the  saga,  but  only  the  theories  of  Abbot  Nicholas  or 
some  one  else,  and  perhaps  the  general  tradition.  It  was  natural  that 
they  should  think  so,  if  Leif  reached  the  Chesapeake.  Since  Edrisi 
in  the  twelfth  century  clearly  distinguished  between  the  Canaries  and 
the  other  islands  which  lay  farther  at  sea,  since  the  classical  geog- 
raphers before  him  well  knew  the  former,  and  since  the  early  medie- 
val maps  kept  and  emphasized  Edrisi's  distinction,  there  seems  no 
great  probability  of  any  real  confusion  of  identity. 

(20)  Even  though  the  Saga  of  Eric  the  Red  and  the  "  Gronlendinga-pattr  " 
contain  nothing  which  we  can  regard  as  certain  information  as  to  the  discovery 
of  America  by  the  Greenlanders,  we  yet  find  there  and  elsewhere  many  features 
which  show  that  they  must  have  reached  the  coast  of  America,  the  most 
decisive  among  them  being  the  chance  mention  of  the  voyagers  from  Markland, 
in  1347.    To  this  may  be  added  Hertzberg's  demonstration  of  the  adoption  of  the 
Icelandic  game  of  "  knattleikr  "  by  the  Indians.     The  name  of  the  mythical 
land  may  then  have  been  transferred  to  the  country  that  was  discovered. 

Fortunately  the  fact  that  the  Icelanders  reached  the  coast  of 
America  does  not  rest  wholly  on  the  veracity  of  the  sailors  on  the 
small  Greenland  ship,  or  on  any  annal.  America  was  reached  by 
Thorfinn,  and  more  or  less  explored  as  far  as  southern  New  England. 
Leif  had  previously  reached  the  same  region  and  probably  passed  a 
long  way  below  it.  Our  reasons  for  believing  so  are  fully  stated 
elsewhere. 

12 


l68  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

(21)  Hvitramanna-land  is  a  mythical  land  similar  to  the  Wine-island  of  the 
Irish,  modified  in  accordance  with  Christian  ideas,  especially,  perhaps,  those  of 
the  white  garments  of  the  baptized — as  in  the  "  Navigatio  Brandani "  in  refer- 
ence to  the  Isle  of  Anchorites  or  the  "  Strong  Men's  Isle  "  (=  Starkramanna- 
land) — and  of  the  white  hermits. 

Dr.  Nansen  cannot  know  that  it  was  a  mythic  land.  I  do  not  know 
that  it  was  not.  It  may  be  the  American  coast  below  Wineland,  for 
example  New  Jersey  or  the  Carolinas. 

(22)  Finally,  among  the  most  different  people  on  earth,  from  the  ancient 
Greeks  to  the  Icelanders,  Chinese,  and  Japanese,  we  meet  with  similar  myths 
about  countries  out  in  the  ocean  and  voyages  to  them,  which,  whether  they  be 
connected  with  one  another  or  not,  show  the  common  tendency  of  humanity 
to  adopt  ideas  and  tales  of  this  kind. 

We  meet  such  stories  everywhere  and  no  doubt  many  of  them  are 
based  on  real  adventures  often  wildly  distorted.  The  Zeno  tale  is  in 
point.  It  developed  into  something  portentous  and  inexplicable ; 
and  is  still  in  dispute ;  but  most  likely  they  made  voyages  and  encount- 
ered adventures,  which  were  a  kernel  of  truth  for  their  repeatedly 
distorted  story.  But  one  ought  not  to  call  it  a  myth,  although  it 
contains  a  short  myth  as  an  episode ;  nor  can  any  light  be  extracted 
from  it  in  that  way.  The  voyage  stories  of  different  countries  have 
not  yet  rendered  much  aid  in  the  Wineland  investigation;  but  it  is 
greatly  to  be  desired  that  the  veil  should  be  lifted  from  the  origin  of 
the  names  Antillia,  Brazil,  and  others  which  men  call  mythical  to 
cover  uncertain  knowledge. 

Some  of  the  above  conclusions  by  Dr.  Nansen  make  in  favor 
of  the  position  taken  in  the  present  book ;  others  can  hardly  be  said 
to  weigh  either  way.  Only  a  minority  of  the  remainder  have  seemed 
to  need  moderately  extended  treatment,  partly  because  Dr.  Nansen 
is  in  so  many  respects  in  accord  with  what  I  had  already  written  and 
as  to  others  he  could  be  best  convinced  by  showing  him  the  places, 
flora,  fauna,  and  conditions.  It  was  inevitable  that  he  should  make 
some  errors  in  dealing  with  foreign  and  unfamiliar  things  and  very 
plainly  he  had  never  thought  of  the  progressive  changes  in  coast 
outline  during  900  years,  nor  the  difference  in  nature  and  distribution 
between  the  large  wild  grapes  out  of  which  the  early  colonists  made 
good  wine  and  the  small  wild  grapes  which  are  tart  and  more  like 
berries.  When  Dr.  Storm  so  naturally  went  astray  it  is  not  surprising 
that  Dr.  Nansen  should  do  likewise.  There  are  doubtful  inferences 
and  conjectures  even  in  von  Humboldt.  Like  many  others  Dr. 
Nansen  has  failed  to  distinguish  adequately  between  the  mountainous 
northern  home  of  Thorfinn's  party  on  the  bay  connected  with  Straum- 


NO.    19  NORSE   VISITS   TO    NORTH   AMERICA — BABCOCK  169 

fiord  and  their  much  warmer  southern  home  Hop  with  its  loch  and 
river,  marsh-grain  and  grape-covered  hills;  though  the  saga  makes 
the  distinction  clear,  if  read  without  misconception. 

His  elaborate  treatment  of  the  insular  myths  and  legends  will 
find  its  most  abiding  value  as  a  study  toward  elucidating  the  problem 
of  the  Mythical  Islands  of  the  Atlantic,  closely  allied  to  such  questions 
as  those  of  Great  Ireland  and  Wineland  and  calling  aloud  at  the 
present  time  for  a  more  thorough  investigation  than  has  ever  yet 
been  attempted. 

But  we  must  insist  that  the  Icelanders  could  never  have  borrowed 
from  the  mass  of  Irish  and  antique  myths  and  northern  fairy  stories 
such  a  log-book-like  narrative  as  that  of  Thorfinn  Karlsefni,  hitting 
without  fail  such  a  great  number  of  items  accurately  distinctive 
of  the  Atlantic  coastline  of  North  America  with  practically  no 
introduction  of  European  elements  except  possibly  one  or  two  arms 
and  gestures  from  Norse  experience.  And  if  we  find  the  narratives 
accurate  in  so  very  many  items,  why  cannot  we  believe  the  voyagers 
in  the  reasonable  statement  that  they  gave  the  name  of  Wineland  to  a 
country  which  surprised  them  by  its  luxuriance  of  grapevine  growth 
and  its  abundance  of  large  fine  grapes  good  for  wine  making?  Since 
wild  grain  in  plenty  was  also  there,  with  plentiful  fish  and  game, 
shore-birds  and  their  eggs,  great  trees  for  house-building  and  ship- 
building, wood  of  finely  veined  and  dotted  grain  for  ornamental  work, 
tall  grass  excellent  for  hay  and  grazing,  and,  in  the  more  southern 
parts,  a  climate  so  mild  as  to  remind  them  of  the  Canaries  and  Mauri- 
tania, why  should  not  they  call  it  "  good,"  even  if  that  word  had  come 
to  especially  imply  something  supernally  fortunate  and  blessed,  as  in 
the  case  of  Teneriffe,  Porto  Santo,  and  Madeira? 

Such  an  instance  as  the  sea  currents  of  Straumey  and  Straumfiord, 
found  nowhere  on  our  coast  except  in  and  near  Grand  Manan,  of 
such  notable  volume  and  power  and  nowhere  corroborated  by  so  many 
coincidences  of  fact  and  statement,  ought  surely  to  show  Dr.  Nansen 
(who  expresses  no  doubt  of  them)  that  this  saga-narrative  can  not  be 
mainly  the  product  of  old  legendary  lore  and  the  same  is  at  least 
equally  true  of  the  emphatically  and  almost  exclusively  American 
Wonderstrands. 

18.— GENERAL  SURVEY 

We  find,  then,  that  there  is  no  trustworthy  record  of  any  Norse 
settlement  in  America  existing  continuously  for  more  than  one  year ; 
nor  of  any  Norse  voyages  to  America,  excepting  those  of  Leif  and 
Thorfinn  and  the  visit  of  a  small  vessel  more  than  three  hundred  and 
forty  years  afterward.  We  may  suspect  what  we  will  of  that  long 


SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

interval  and  there  is  always  the  possibility  that  new  facts  may  be 
discovered ;  but  such  is  the  present  status  of  the  question. 

We  find  further  that  Leif  reached  the  fox-grape-bearing  coast 
of  the  continent,  probably  as  low  as  southeastern  Massachusetts  at 
the  least ;  that  he  touched  at  several  points  and  brought  back  certain 
products ;  that  the  chances  would  favor  the  Gulf  of  Maine  for  his 
storm-driven  landfall  and  a  subsequent  long  run  down  the  shore  after 
the  fashion  of  other  navigators;  but  we  know  little  of  the  voyage 
except  the  general  impression  of  warmth  and  natural  bounty  which 
his  report  made  at  home. 

We  find  also  that  Thorfinn  successfully  carried  his  colonists  to 
Labrador,  Newfoundland,  and  Cape  Breton,  thence  along  the  Atlantic 
coast  of  Nova  Scotia  to  the  great  Bay  of  Fundy,  near  which  they 
made  their  first  home,  probably  on  the  Passamaquoddy  shore  and 
Grand  Manan.1  Afterward  they  removed  to  a  much  more  southern 
spot,  and  remained  there  for  a  year,  then  returned  to  the  Fundy 
region,  making  an  incidental  exploration  of  Nova  Scotia  and  the 
southeastern  shore  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  at  last  regaining 
Greenland  and  Iceland  after  three  years'  American  experience.  Hop, 
their  most  southern  point,  was  either  on  the  eastern  coast  of  New- 
England  below  Maine  or  in  the  basin  of  Narragansett  Bay,  with  a 
slight  preponderance  of  probability  for  the  latter. 

Besides  these  voyages,  two  attempts  were  made,  Thorstein's  in 
1002  and  Bishop  Eric  Gnupson's  in  1121.  The  former  failed,  the 
latter  vanished  ;  and  nothing  ever  came  of  their  endeavors. 

The  three  "  lands  "  explored  by  Karlsefni  kept  their  names  until 
more  modern  ones  were  substituted.  Helluland  soon  came  to  mean  all 
the  desolate  country  above  the  forest,  whether  with  flat  stones  or  with- 
out them,  and  was  a  favorite  field  for  later  fictitious  sagas. 

Markland  probably  stood  always  for  Greenland's  nearest  supply 
of  growing  timber,  that  is  for  Newfoundland,  perhaps  with  some 
vague  extension  to  neighboring  shores.  The  traditional  view  of 
the  errand  of  the  little  ship  of  1347  as  a  timber-gatherer  may  have 
originated  in  a  knowledge  of  prevailing  custom  or  in  some  unrecorded 
statement  of  its  crew.  If  it  had  not  been  torn  from  its  anchorage 
and  driven  to  Iceland  we  should  never  have  heard  of  it,  any  more 
than  of  the  many  others  which  we  may  conjecture  to  have  made  the 
trip  successfully,  escaping  or  outliving  the  storms. 

1  Dr.  Nans  en  believes  in  a  visit  or  visits  to  these  points  and  an  encounter 
with  Indians,  not  Eskimo,  somewhere  on  the  Atlantic  coast  below  Cape  Breton  ; 
but  he  is  uncertain  as  to  the  particular  explorers  and  thinks  the  name  Wine- 
land  wholly  mythical,  though  calling  Markland  '"historic." 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  171 

Wineland  seems  to  have  been  understood  as  beginning  with  Cape 
Breton,  below  the  Strait  of  Cabot,  and  extending  a  long  way  south- 
ward. The  most  general  conjecture  was  that  it  joined  Africa  some- 
where in  the  tropics ;  until  the  Spanish  discoveries  made  this  untenable 
and  later  explorations  revealed  a  long  coast-line  independent  of  the 
eastern  world  and  broken  by  a  few  deep  inlets,  the  greatest  of  which 
was  the  Chesapeake.  Then  they  pitched  upon  some  such  "  fiord  "  as 
marking  Wineland  off  from  America  of  the  Spaniards.  But  at  all 
times 'its  warmer  and  more  prolific  regions  made  the  dominant  ideal 
of  the  new  country  among  the  northern  people. 

Of  course  "  discovery  "  in  its  fullest  sense  calls  not  only  for  finding 
but  for  adequate  disclosure.  But  what  is  adequate  in  this  connection  ? 
Must  we  demonstrate  a  full  understanding  of  the  matter  by  the  more 
prosperous  nations  around  the  Mediterranean,  or  some  effective 
influence  on  exploration  and  colonization  in  later  centuries?  It  is 
a  matter  of  definition  only,  but  these  requirements  would  be  perhaps 
a  little  immoderate. 

In  Scandinavia  the  results  were  so  effectually  announced  that 
they  remained  sensational  topics  of  conversation  in  a  royal  court 
nearly  seventy  years  afterward — a  court  and  kingdom  very  indirectly 
concerned.  The  same  information  was  published  by  Adam  of  Bremen 
about  the  same  time  in  Germany,  so  amply  that  manuscript  copies  of 
his  book  were  to  be  found  at  widely  separated  points  of  central 
Europe  for  half  a  millenium  afterward.  It  is  incredible  that  none  of 
them  reached  Italy,  and  equally  so  that  the  story  of  the  three  years' 
Wineland  adventure  should  not  have  been  freely  told  there  by  Gudrid 
during  her  eleventh  century  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  and  repeated  from 
time  to  time  by  the  many  Icelandic  pilgrims  and  soldiers  of  fortune 
whom  we  read  of  in  other  sagas.  Furthermore l  the  tithes  for  the 
support  of  Crusaders  were  paid  by  Greenland  from  time  to  time  dur- 
ing'the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  at  least,  though  in  a  dila- 
tory way ;  and  men  who  were  sometimes  sent  to  collect  them  must  have 
wonderfully  lacked  curiosity  if  they  made  no  inquiry  concerning 
Markland,  if  only  to  find  out  whether  it  might  prove  another  resource. 
What  they  learned  would  surely  find  its  way  back,  in  general  outline, 
if  no  more,  to  the  central  authority.  On  all  grounds,  we  must  believe 
that  the  Vatican  was  aware  of  these  new  western  lands,  but  probably 
with  little  more  interest  than  attached  to  the  reports  of  upper  Green- 
land. That  such  knowledge  should  have  been  possessed  and  allowed 


1  B.  F.  De  Costa:  The  Pre-Columbian  Discovery  of  America,  p.  322  et  seq;. 
also  most  of  the  other  works  before  cited  concerning  Greenland. 


172  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

to  lapse  away  out  of  mind  is  no  more  remarkable  than  that  Edrisi 
should  have  known  of  the  lake  sources  of  the  White  Nile  in  the 
twelfth  century  and  drawn  them  conspicuously  on  his  map ;  although 
the  unheeding  world  of  Europe  forgot  them  and  they  had  to  be  labor- 
iously rediscovered  seven  hundred  years  afterward.  We  are  learning 
that  the  world's  memory  has  had  many  trances  of  oblivion. 

As  to  influence  on  succeeding  voyages,  Nansen  has  called  attention 
to  the  many  Scandinavians  who  had  settled  in  Bristol  before  the  dis- 
covery of  North  America.  Storm  very  reasonably  urged  long  ago 
the  identity  of  Markland  and  the  Irish  Brazil,  the  quest  for  which 
passed  from  Limerick  to  this  same  Bristol ;  Fischer 1  has  treated 
the  same  subject  rather  more  conspicuously ;  and,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  century  maps  afford  very  curious  cor- 
roborative indications  along  several  converging  lines.  Moreover, 
John  Cabot  in  his  first  voyage  turned  northward  for  a  time  (Payne  2 
thinks  to  Iceland)  from  his  first  westward  course,  a  proceeding  that 
cost  him  some  trouble,  according  to  Sebastian,  and  which  would 
hardly  recommend  itself  to  one  who  had  never  heard  of  discoveries 
made  from  that  quarter.  Also  he  promptly  gave  the  land 3  which  he 
found  substantially  the  name  currently  in  use  then,  or  not  very  long 
before,  by  Icelanders,  for  some  western  region  of  uncertain  identity 
which,  on  the  whole,  is  most  likely  to  be  this  same  Newfoundland. 
Finally,  soon  after  his  return  that  summer,  as  reported  by  an  Italian 
envoy  who  was  his  friend  and  whose  letter  is  still  extant,  he  and  his 
mercantile  backers  reported  that  they  thought  brazil-wood  grew 
there,  this  being  the  characteristic  product  which  was  popularly 
believed  to  have  given  the  great  Isle  of  Brazil  its  name.  Everything 
goes  to  prove  that  he  had  the  former  Irish  and  Icelandic  voyages  and 
legends  in  mind,  and  that  these  and  like  influences  would  soon  have 
impelled  him  or  some  other  to  success  along  this  line,  even  if  there 
had  been  no  Spanish  discovery  of  the  Antilles. 

Apart  from  this  effect  in  Britain,  Adam  of  Bremen's  account  of 
Wineland  and  its  products  was  circulating  in  print  from  Holland 
before  the  seventeenth  century,  and  Ortelius  also  was  presenting 
Wineland  by  name  as  a  Norse  discovery  identical  with  Estotiland,  in 
theorizing  about  the  origin  of  the  American  Indians ;  while  in 
Iceland  itself  there  was  a  continuous  succession  of  sagas  and  other 
works  touching  the  subject,  oral,  written  and  printed,  original  and 


lfrhe  Explorations  of  the  Northmen,  etc.,  p.  105.     Cf.  E.  J.  Payne:  History 
of  America. 
5  As  above,  p.  233. 
3E.  J.  Payne:  History  of  America,  p.  217. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  1/3 

copied,  besides  the  entries  in  the  annals,  until  more  modern  kinds  of 
books  took  up  the  task  of  preservation  and  exposition,  the  first  formal 
History  of  Wineland,  that  of  Torfaeus,  appearing  in  1705.  Since 
that  time  there  has  never  been  a  total  dearth  of  such  literature,  nor 
any  real  break  in  the  chain.  Surely  in  all  this  we  have  disclosure,  not 
indeed  at  all  times  voluminous,  but  extending  over  a  great,  area  and 
through  the  march  of  centuries.  Is  not  this,  following  the  actual 
finding  of  our  coast  and  its  partial  exploration,  quite  enough  to 
justify  the  use  of  the  word  discovery? 

This  does  not  diminish  the  merit  of  Columbus  in  rediscovery, 
primarily  for  the  benefit  of  Latin  peoples  and  with  no  aid  from  the 
northern  sources,  which  he  and  they  agreed  in  holding  lightly.  While 
in  "  Frisland  "  or  Iceland  or  during  his  dubious  voyage  yet  farther 
westward,  he  may  well  have  heard  of  Wineland ;  but  if  so  he  has  given 
no  sign ;  and  he  surely  would  have  used  it  against  his  adversaries  had 
he  recognized  an  available  argument.  There  simply  was  nothing  in 
the  tradition  which  savored  of  Ind  or  Cathay ;  and  he  was  as  far  as 
could  be  from  the  ambition  to  discover  a  new  continent.  Its  existence 
appeared  so  dreadful  a  negation  of  all  his  hopes  that  he  would  not 
admit  it,  even  when  suspicion  must  have  been  haunting  him ;  but 
compelled  his  followers  by  cruel  and  extravagant  threats  to  join  in 
an  affidavit  that  they  had  reached  Asia  instead. 

It  has  also  been  lightly  said  *  that  the  Norse  journeyings  up  and 
down  our  coast  compare  with  the  voyages  of  Columbus  as  the  sport 
of  children  with  the  achievements  of  men.  But  is  this  true?  The 
chief  motive  of  Leif  was  to  carry  the  gospel  of  Christ  to  his  Green- 
land home,  at  the  same  time  rejoining  those  of  his  blood  from  whom  he 
had  been  long  parted ;  this  he  effected  perfectly  and  promptly,  inci- 
dentally presenting  the  data  which  he  had  collected,  as  the  result  of 
an  accidental  discovery  and  hasty  explorations  on  the  way.  The 
chief  motive  of  Thorfinn  was  exactly  that  which  we  admire  in  our 
first,  hardy,  English-speaking  settlers,  the  finding  of  new  homes  for 
their  families  and  incidentally  upbuilding  a  new  country.  He  failed 
in  this,  because  the  odds  were  too  heavily  against  him,  not  from  any 
lack  of  competent  planning  or  sturdy  endeavor ;  and  he  brought  back 
from  Wineland  a  notable  accession  to  human  knowledge,  besides 
adding  another  heroic  figure  to  the  picture  gallery  of  human  effort. 
The  chief  motive  of  Columbus  was  to  find  a  shorter  route  to  Asia, 
with  consequent  profit  and  glory  to  his  sovereign  and  himself,  and  a 
wider  opportunity  for  converting  the  heathen.  He  failed  utterly  in 


J.  Fiske :  The  Discovery  of  America. 


174  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

his  immediate  aim.    Yet  he  brought  the  New  World  into  the  light 
and  demonstrated  that  the  Sea  of  Darkness  was  no  formidable  barrier. 

Which  of  the  three  should  stand  foremost  is  debatable,  depending 
largely  on  the  "  spectacles  of  the  judge."  Perhaps  we  may  fairly  say 
that  Thorfinn  was  the  most  practical  and  modern ;  Leif ,  the  most 
unselfish .  and  exempt  from  failure  in  what  he  aimed  to  do ;  and 
Columbus  the  most  picturesque,  the  most  conspicuous,  and  the  most 
important  for  the  future. 

It  was  the  ill  luck  of  Leif  the  Lucky  and  Thorfinn  the  Promising  to 
discover  and  begin  exploring  America  before  the  world  was  ready. 
The  Genoese  came  with  the  rising  tide  of  modern  life  and  it  ensured 
that  his  work  should  go  on  after  him.  But  neither  Columbus  nor 
Leif  made  any  radical  change  in  the  course  of  the  world's  history. 

If  he  had  remained  in  Spain,  and  so  found  nothing  in  1492,  Cabral, 
rounding  out  too  far  from  Africa  in  his  East  Indian  voyage,  would 
quite  as  certainly  have  struck  the  South  American  coast  in  1500.  By 
then,  too,  or  not  long  afterward,1  success  would  surely  have  come  as 
well  to  the  plucky  and  persistent  merchants  of  Bristol  and  their 
captains,  who  had  twice  essayed  before  1480  to  reach  that  Brazil 
which  probably  included  Markland  and  had  repeated  2  such  attempts 
annually  or  oftener  for  some  seventeen  years,  until  the  successful 
one  landed  them  with  Cabot  on  the  American  mainland  before  either 
Vespucius  or  Columbus.  Possibly  mankind  might  have  prospered 
even  better  if  sixteenth  century  access  to  the  new  world  had  been  by 
this  upper  gate  alone.  No  doubt  many  records  would  be  preserved 
which  went  up  in  flames  before  Spanish  bigotry;  and  it  is  hardly 
imaginable  that  the  native  semi-civilization  could  have  fared  worse. 
At  any  rate,  toward  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  speedy 
discovery  of  America  was  quite  inevitable. 

The  situation  has  never  been  paralleled.  Europe,  so  long  facing 
eastward,  had  turned  about  the  other  way  and  was  all  alive  on  its 
Atlantic  front.  Besides  the  swarm  of  Basque,  Breton,  and  Norman 
fishermen,  continually  urging  their  industry  farther  afield,  there  were 
three  lines  of  approach,  making  a  gigantic  race  of  most  absorbing 
interest,  across  the  great  sea.  At  the  north,  English  seekers  after 
the  half- forgotten  memories  of  our  race  which  had  turned  to  myth ; 
in  the  middle,  a  man  who  sought  a  certainly  known  goal  by  an 
impossible  route ;  below  him,  the  Portuguese  navigators,  who  well 


aj.  Winsor:  Narr.  and  Crit.  Hist,  of  America. 

2  Letter  of  Soncino  given  in  original  Italian  and  translation  by  G.  E.  Weare. 
before  cited. 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  175 

knew  both  route  and  goal,  but  swayed  out  into  the  unknown  ocean  on 
their  loose-flung  way,  with  altogether  unsuspected  opportunity  for 
great  discovery;  and  all  the  time  the  long-waiting  double  continent 
barred  every  path  and  was  by  no  means  to  be  missed.  It  was  a  mere 
question  of  miles  and  degrees  and  of  first  overcoming  them.  The  man 
of  the  middle  line  won  and  is  rightly  praised  for  his  persistence  and 
successful  endeavor,  as  well  as  for  his  wide  views  of  the  problems 
then  confronting  mankind. 

But  in  Leif 's  time  there  was  no  European  pressure  westward  except 
that  of  the  sparsely  populated  adventurous  Scandinavian  North,  and 
this  did  not  wholly  suffice.  The  wave  touched  Wineland  but  soon 
receded;  even  falling  back  several  centuries  later  from  Greenland 
also,  after  a  wonderfully  tenacious  occupancy,  while  the  rest  of  the 
world  hardly  perceived  the  loss.  But  a  discoverer  is  not  in  fault 
for  the  lack  of  wit  of  his  generation.  He  should  not  be  deprived  of 
his  honors  by  any  overstraining  of  language.  Leif  Ericsson,  or 
Thorfinn  Karlsefni,  if  we  follow  Dr.  Nansen  in  doubting  Leif, 
remains  the  first  authentically  recorded  discoverer  of  America. 
Gudrid,  his  wife,  holds  her  place  as  the  first  white  American  mother, 
and  their  son,  Snorri,  is  sufficiently  well  attested  as  the  first-born  white 
American. 


NOTES. 

1  (p.  20).    Thus  Peter  Martyr  believed — "the  cosmographers  well  considered" 

that  Columbus  reached  "The  Islands  of  Antillia"  (Peter  Martyr 
d'  Anghiera:  The  Decades  of  the  New  World  (1511);  Eden's  trans- 
lation (1555),  the  First  Decade,  pp.  2,  3).  Cf.  A  Portuguese  anonymous 
map  of  1502  shows  the  "  Antilie "  applied  to  Cuba  and  neighboring 
islands  by  explicit  inscription. 

2  (p.  21 ).     The  peasantry  and  fisher  folk  of  the  Arran  Islands  still  call  it  the 

Great  Land  (Westropp:  Brazil  and  the  Legendary  Islands  of  the 
North  Atlantic,  1912,  p.  257). 

3  (p.  22).     Perhaps  montonis  originally  was  montanis    (mountains,  Italian); 

as  we  know  that  Pareto's  Roillo  had  been  Reylla — besides  other  like 
instances  of  accidental  change.  I.  de  Montonis — the  Isle  of  Sheep; 
which  is  conspicuous  in  the  sea-tales  of  St.  Brandan  and  the  Magrurin 
of  Lisbon. 

4  (p.  24).     Westropp,  in  his  very  recent  work  on  Brasil  and  the  Legendary 

Islands  of  the  North  Atlantic,  published  by  the  Royal  Irish  Academy, 
1912,  p.  255,  mentions  a  mythical  King  Breas  and  a  missionary  Bresal 
of  about  the  year  480  and  suggests  that  Brasil  may  have  been  named 
after  the  latter;  also  Hardiman's  The  History  of  Galway,  p.  2,  quotes 
from  one  of  the  i6th  century  Four  Masters,  who  compiled  much  older 
material,  a  mention  of  Breasail  (apparently  a  pagan  Gaelic  hero  or 
deity),  having  a  very  ancient  look,  but  there  seems  a  lack  of  data  to  fill 
the  wide  gap  between  the  fifth  and  fourteenth  centuries.  The  Italian 
and  Catalan  maps  of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  generally 
present  the  name  as  I.  de  Brazil,  sometimes  Y  de  Brazil,  with  divers 
variations  in  orthography,  such  as  Berzil,  Brazi,  Bracir  and  Buxelle, 
beside  those  given  below. 

5  (p.  25).     The  word  Bracile   (obviously  Brazil)   occurs  in  a  treaty  or  com- 

pact of  peace  and  trade,  dated  1193,  between  the  "  Bononienses  and 
Farrarienses,"  copied  into  volume  2  of  Antiquitates  Italicse  Medii 
Aevi  by  L.  A.  Muratori,  beginning  at  page  891.  In  a  list  of  specific 
commodities  embodied  in  this  compact,  and  including  indigo,  incense, 
wax,  and  certain  hides  or  furs,  we  find  also  (p.  894)  "  drapis  de 
batilicio,  de  lume  zucarina,  de  grana  de  Brasile."  On  page  898  Mur- 
atori mentions  that  a  deed  of  the  year  1198  uses  the  same  words  "grana 
de  Brasile."  The  use  of  the  word  "  grain  "  on  two  occasions  in  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  documents  at  an  interval  of  five  years  cannot  be  an 
accidental  error.  There  is  nothing  to  hint  at  any  confusion  with  woods 
or  dyes.  The  name  suggests  "  ble  Turquoise "  for  maize  and  other 
like  names  of  a  later  time.  We  must  suppose  that  Brazil  was  believed  to 
be  a  country  capable  of  supplying  a  distinctive  grain  and  that  the  grain 
in  question  had  acquired  a  settled  name  of  commerce  at  this  early  date. 
The  Memorias  Historicas  sobre  la  Marina  Commercio  y  Artes  de 
la  Antiqua  Ciudad  de  Barcelona,  by  Antonio  de  Capmany  y  de  Mont- 
palu  in  Vol.  2,  presents  a  series  of  copies  of  orders  or  regulations 

176 


NO.    19  NORSE  VISITS   TO    NORTH    AMERICA — BABCOCK  177 

establishing  impost  and  seignorage  tarifs  for  different  ports  and  of 
course  mentioning  many  commodities.  On  pages  4,  17  and  20  are  found 
in  separate  documents  "  carrega  de  Brasill,"  "  faix  de  bresil " ;  and 
"  cargua  de  brazil,"  the  earliest  dating  1221,  the  second  1243  and  the 
third  a  little  later  in  that  century.  As  they  accompany  sugar,'  paper, 
alum,  perfumes,  wax,  and  other  miscellaneous  goods,  nothing  can  be 
inferred  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  word  except  that  brazil  was  some 
generally  recognized  and  packaged  article  of  Catalan  trade.  In  one 
list  grain  is  mentioned  generally  and  separately,  but  this  need  not  exclude 
brazil  from  being  some  special  grain.  Also  the  words  "  de  qualibet 
centeria  de  brasile  venali  "  occur  in  a  1312  grant  of  murage  rates  to 
Dublin — Patent  Roll  V.  Edw  II,  Part  2  m  7,  as  quoted  in  a  recent  letter  by 
Mr.  Westropp,  author  of  B-rasil,  etc.  But,  as  he  says,  it  has  no  necessary 
relation  to  dye-woods.  It  may  obviously  mean  any  commodity  associated 
with  "  Brasil." 

6  (p.  26).     Several  old  maps  show  the  main  island  of  the  Bermudas  exag- 

gerated, and  of  approximately  crescent  form,  for  example,  that  of  F. 
de  Witte,  1660,  and  another  in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum,  unnamed 
and  undated,  but  bearing  1668  as  its  latest  discovery  entry  and  belonging 
apparently  to  the  early  eighteenth  century. 

7  (P-  38).     In  point  of  fact  this  same  feat  of  blending  all  the  Faroes  in  one 

with  change  of  place  had  been  performed  long  before,  as  appears  from 
an  eleventh  century  map  in  the  British  Museum  reproduced  by  San- 
torem,  presenting  Ysferi  (apparently  meaning  Island  of  Fari)  as  a 
large  island  west  or  northwest  of  Ireland.  Of  course  Y  was  a  common 
equivalent  of  I  (Insula)  and  the  name  was  currently  changed  slightly, 
for  example,  to  Frisland  by  Christopher  (or  Ferdinand)  Columbus  as 
well  as  Nicolo  Zeno. 

8  (p.  40.)    Mr.  V.  Stefansson  has  recently  reported  certain  Eskimo  of  white 

racial  characteristics  on  Coronation  Gulf  near  the  middle  of  the 
top  of  the  continent,  with  the  v  suggestion  that  they  may  possibly  be 
descendants  of  these  Greenlanders.  But  there  are  several  other  ways 
of  accounting  for  the  phenomenon,  though  perhaps  none  is  perfectly 
satisfactory,  and  until  we  have  further  light  on  the  subject  the  safest 
plan  is  to  treat  it  as  irrelevant. 

9  (p.  109).    A  more  recent  interpretation   (the  Athenaeum,  London,  Septem- 

ber, 1912),  derives  two  of  the  Skrelling  words  from  Eskimo.  The 
Athenaeum  says :  "  M.  Henri  Cordier  in  the  current  number  of  the 
Journal  des  Savants  calls  attention  to  a  proof  of  the  discovery  of 
America  in  the  eleventh  century  which  has  hitherto  passed  unnoticed. 
In  the  Saga  of  Eric  the  Red  it  is  said  that  when  Thorfinn  Karlsefni 
returned  from  '  Markland '  or  Newfoundland,  in  1005,  he  took  back  to 
Greenland  with  him  two  children  from  the  northern  land  of  the  Skrael- 
ings,  and  four  words  of  their  language  are  preserved  in  the  Saga. 
These  words  were  thought  by  the  Greenlanders  to  be  the  names  of  the 
children's  parents  or  chiefs ;  but  M.  Cordier  shows  that  they  can  be 
traced  to  Esquimaux  phrases  of  the  present  day,  two  of  them  meaning 
something  like  '  Wait  a  moment '  and  *  the  Northern  Islands '  respec- 
tively." But  Dr.  Nansen's  derivation  of  these  words  from  the  Norse 
has  a  more  persuasive  air.  Since  the  Icelanders  apparently  lent  their 


178  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

legends  to  their  captives  or  read  them  into  the  utterances  of  the  latter 
we  may  well  suppose  a  like  contribution  of  words  or  a  transformation 
beyond  any  retracing. 

10  (p.  118).  James  Wallace  in  "A  description  of  the  Isles  of  Orkney,"  1693 
(John  Small,  editor,  1886),  p.  5,  writes,  "In  this  firth  about  two  miles 
from  Caithness  lies  Stroma  a  little  isle "  and  a  note  probably  by  Mal- 
colm Laing  adds,  "  i.  e.}  Straum  Island  from  the  furious  streams  that 
pass  by  it."  The  name  Straumey  occurs  also  at  divers  points  around 
the  coast  of  Iceland  according  to  the  late  Mr.  Steingrimur  Stefansson,  an 
Icelander.  Cf.  Debes  (L.  J.)  :  Faroe  and  Faeroa  Referata.  (Description 
of  the  islands  and  inhabitants  of  Faroe.)  Translated  by  J.  S.,  "  Osteroe 
and  Stromoe  are  as  it  were  bound  together  by  a  ground,  over  which  runs  a 
very  rapid  stream  ....  From  this  stream  it  is  that  Stromoe  is  so 
called." 


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NELSON,  E.  W. :     The  Eskimo  about  Bering  Strait.     (Eighteenth  Ann.  Rep. 

Bur.  Amer.   Ethnology,  1896-97.) 

NARRAGANSETT  BAY  :     U.  S.  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey  chart  of. 
NORDENSKJOLD,  A.  E. :     Periplus.     An  essay  on  the  early  charts  and  sailing 

directions,  translated  from  the  Swedish  original  by  Francis  A.  Bather. 

Stockholm,  1897. 

— = Facsimile  atlas. 

NUTT,  ALFRED:     The  voyage  of  Bran London,  1895-97. 

OLAUS  MAGNUS:  A  compendious  history,  etc.,  Streeter's  translation.  (His 
map  is  very  fully  given  on  large  scale  in  Lafreri's  atlas.) 

OLDHAM,  H.  YULE:  A  Pre-Columbian  discovery  of  South  America.  Geogr. 
Journ.,  Vol.  5,  p.  225,  1895.  Advocates  hypothesis  of  voyage  from  Cape 
Verde  Islands  to  America  as  indicated  by  A.  Bianco's  map  of  1448, 
which  it  copies.  Discussed  by  Royal  Geog.  Society. 

OLD  SOUTH  LEAFLETS. 

OLSON,  J.  E. :  The  voyages  of  the  Norsemen.  Original  narratives  of  early 
American  history.  Vol.  i. 

ORIGINAL  NARRATIVES  of  early  American  history.    Vol.  i. 

OSGOOD'S  "  The  Maritime  Provinces." 

PACKARD,  A.  S. :  The  coast  of  Labrador,  1891. 

Who  first  saw  the  Labrador  coast?     Journ.  Amer.  Geogr.  Soc., 

Vol.  20.    New  York,  1888. 

PAPERS  and  MAPS  of  the  Italian  Geographical  Congresses. 

PATTERSON,  GEORGE:     The  Beothuks  or  Red  Indians  of  Newfoundland.    Proc. 

and  Trans.  Royal  Soc.,  Canada,  Vol.  9.     Montreal,  1892. 
PAYNE,  E.  J. :     The  age  of  discovery.     Cambridge  Modern  History,  Vol.  i. 

The  history  of  the  new  world  called  America.    Oxford,  1892. 

PIERCE' s  Report  to  U.  S.  Government  on  Iceland   (1868). 


NO.    19  NORSE   VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  187 

POOLE,  H.  S. :  Subsidence  of  the  Atlantic  coast  line  of  Nova  Scotia.  (The 
Sunken  Land  of  Bus.)  Trans.  Nova  Scotian  Inst.  Sci.,  Vol.  2,  1902. 

POORE,  B. :  Address  mentioning  Norsemen's  visit.  Proceedings  25Oth  Anni- 
versary of  Ipswich,  Mass. 

POWELL,  D.,  Editor:    History  of  Cambria,  with  notes. 

POWER,  L.  C. :     The  whereabouts  of  Vinland.     New  England  uVIag.,  Vol.   13. 

PRICHARD,  H.  V.  H. :     Through  trackless  Labrador. 

PROCEEDINGS  and  TRANSACTIONS  Royal  Society  of  Canada.  1898  (Cabot's  map 
legends).  1904  (Indian  sites,  Grand  Manan,  etc.).  Also  most  other 
years. 

PROCTOR'S  translation  of  Laxdaela  Saga. 

RAFN,  CARL  CHRISTIAN  :     Antiquitates  Americana.     Copenhagen,  1837. 

[Abstracts  of  the  historical  evidence  for  the  discovery  of  America  by 
the  Scandinavians  in  the  tenth  century.  Extracted  from  above.  In 
Journ.  Roy.  Geogr.  Soc.  of  London,  Vol.  8,  1838.] 

RAU,  C. :  Observations  on  cup  shaped  and  other  lapidarian  sculptures.  Con- 
tributions to  North  American  Ethnology.  U.  S.  Geol.  and  Geogr. 
Survey,  Vol.  5. 

RAVENSTEIN,  E.  G. :     Martin  Behaim.    His  life  and  works.     1908. 

REEVES,  A.  M. :  The  finding  of  Wineland  the  Good.  The  history  of  the 
Icelandic  discovery  of  America Vol.  LXXII,  205  pp.,  London, 

1895- 

REVUE  CELTIQUE.     (Various  volumes.) 

RHYS,  SIR  J. :     The  birth,  life  and  acts  of  King  Arthur Text  by  Mal- 
ory.    Introduction  by  Rhys. 
•     Studies  in  the  Arthurian  Legend Oxford,  1890. 

RIGGS,  S.  C. :  The  Dakota,  etc.  Edited  by  J.  O.  Dorsey  (Contributions, 
Geogr.  and  Geol.  Survey). 

RINK,  H.  J. :  Danish  Greenland,  its  people  and  its  products.  Edited  by 
Dr.  Robert  Brown,  London,  1877. 

—    On  the  descent  of  the  Eskimo.    Arctic  papers  for  the  expedition 
of  1875.    Journ.  Anthr.  Inst.,  1872. 

Tales  and  traditions  of  the  Eskimo  with  a  sketch  of  their  habits, 


religion,  language  and  other  peculiarities.  Translated  from  the  Danish 
by  the  author.  Edited  by  Robert  Brown.  Edinburgh  and  London,  1875. 

ROBINSON,  CONWAY  :     An  account  of  discoveries,  etc. 

ROBINSON,  E.  C. :     In  an  unknown  land. 

RODOLICO,  NICOLO  :  Di  una  carta  nautica  di  Giacomo  Bertran,  Maiorchino  Atti 
Congresso  Geographico  Italico  3.  Florence,  1898,  p.  546. 

ROSSELLI,  P. :   Map  of  1468. 

SAGAS  concerning  the  Norse  visits  to  America  in  facsimile  Icelandic  type  and 
English  translation  with  relevant  auxiliary  data  and  notes,  in  Reeves's 
The  Finding  of  Wineland  the  Good. 

In  general  translated  in  Origines  Islandicae,  the  series  of  Morris 

and  iMagnusson,  the  publications  of  the  Viking  Club,  and  the  separate 
works  of  Dasent,  Proctor,  and  others.  Comparatively  few  are  left 
untranslated. 


l88  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS   COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

SCHARFF,  R.  T. :     Origin  of  European  fauna.     Proc.  Royal  Irish  Acad.,  Vol. 

4,  Series  3,  p.  427 ;  Vol.  8,  Sec.  B,  p.  268,  1902. 

— . —     Some  remarks  on  the  Atlantis  problem.    Proc.  Royal  Irish  Acad., 

Vol.  24,  p.  275. 
SCHOOLCRAFT,  H.  R. :     Indian  tribes  of  the  United   States.     Drake's  edition, 

Vol.  6  (and  various  other  issues  of  the  work  under  other  titles). 
SCHOTT,  G. :    Geographic  des  Atlantisschen  Ozeans.    1912. 
Scisco,  L.  D. :     The  tradition  of  Huitramannaland.    Amer.  Hist.  CYIag.,  3. 
SCORESBY,  WM.  :   An  account  of  the  Arctic  regions. 
SHALER,  N.  S. :     Aspects  of  the  earth New  York,  1889. 

Nature  and  man  in  America.    New  York,  1891. 

SHIPLEY,  MARIE  A. :     The  Icelandic  discovery  of  America. 

SKENE,  W.  F. :     The  four  ancient  books  of  Wales Edinburgh,  1868. 

SLAFTER,  E.  F. :     The  discovery  of  America  by  the  Northmen. 

SMITH,  J.  T. :  The  discovery  of  America  by  the  Norsemen  in  the  Tenth 
Century,  comprising  translations  of  all  the  most  important  original 
narratives  of  the  event;  together  with  critical  examination  of  their 
authenticity,  to  which  is  added  an  examination  of  the  comparative 
merits  of  the.  Northmen  and  Columbus.  Boston,  1839,  London,  1842. 
(Map  also  copied  in  Minn.  Hist.  Soc.  Report.) 

SOULSBY.  B.  H. :  Translation  of  Fischer's  The  discoveries  of  the  Northmen  in 
America,  etc. 

SOUTHEY,  ROBERT  :     The  history  of  Brazil.    Vol.  I.    Appended  notes. 

SPENCER,  HERBERT  :     Descriptive  sociology. 

SPINDEN,  H.  J. :  A  study  of  Maya  art  and  its  subject  matter  and  historical 
development,  1913. 

STEARNS,  W.  H. :     Labrador. 

STEFANSSON,  JON  :  Iceland,  its  history  and  inhabitants.  Smithsonian  Report 
for  1906.  Published,  1907. 

STEFANSSON,  V.:     The  Icelandic  colony  in  Greenland.    (Amer.  Anthr.) 

STEPHENS,  J.  L. :  Incidents  of  travel  in  Central  America,  Chiapas,  and 
Yucatan.  With  illustrations  by  F.  Catherwood.  London,  1854. 

Incidents  of  travel  in  Yucatan.     New  York,  1843-1847. 

STEPHENS,  THOMAS  :     Madoc :     An  essay  on  the  discovery  of  America  by 

Madoc  ap  Owen  in  the  Twelfth  Century.     London  and  New  York, 

1893- 

STEVENSON,  E.  L. :     Portulan  charts,  1911.    Hispanic  Society  of  America. 
STOKES,  WHITLEY:    The  voyage  of  Maelduin   (Revue  Celtique,  Vol.  9). 

The  voyage  of  Snedgus  (Revue  Celtique,  Vol.  9). 

The  voyage  of  the  Hui  Corra  (Revue  Celtique,  Vol.  14). 

STORM,  GUSTAV:     Studies  on  the  Vineland  voyages.     English  translation  in 

Memoires  de  la  Societe  Royale  des  Antiquaires  du  Nord,  1888.  Copen- 
hagen, also  separate.  64  pp.  1889. 

STRABO:    Hamilton's  translation. 

STRACHEY,  W. :  The  histoire  of  travaile  into  Virginia  Britannia,  ....  Lon- 
don, 1849. 

STUDI  BIBLIOGRAFICI  E  BIOGRAFICI  (first  and  second  Italian  Geographical  Con- 
gresses). 


NO.    IQ  NORSE   VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  189 

THALBITZER,  W. :     A  phonetical  study  of  the  Eskimo  language.    "  Medd.  om 

Gronland,"    Vol.  31.     Copenhagen,  1904. 
THEVETV,    A.:     The    new    found    world    or    Antarctic    (Racket's    translation, 

1568). 
THOMAS,  C.  and  McGEE,  W  J:     Prehistoric  North  America.     Vol.  19,  Lee's 

Hist,  of  America. 
TILLINGHAST'S  monograph  in  Vol.  i  of  Winsor's  narrative  and  critical  history 

of  America. 
TORF^US,  T. :   Gronlandia  Antiqua. 

History  of  ancient  Vinland  (Shea's  Trans.  Cath.  Hist.  Mag.,  1888, 

N.  S.). 

TRUMBULL,  J.  H. :     Indian  names  of  places  in  and  on  the  borders  of  Connecti- 
cut, with  interpretations  of  some  of  them.    Hartford,  1881. 
TUCKER,  E.  W. :   Five  months  in  Labrador  and  Newfoundland. 
TURNER,  L.  M. :     The  Hudson  Bay  Eskimo.    Eleventh  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Amer. 

Ethnol.,  1889-1890. 

VERRAZANO'S  voyage.    Translation  in  Old  South  Leaflets. 
VIGFUSSON,  G. :    Prolegomena  to  the  Sturlunga  Saga.    Oxford,  1878. 
VIGFUSSON  and  POWELL:     Origines  Islandicse. 
VINING,  E.  P. :     An  inglorious  Columbus. 

WALLACE,  A.  R. :     Narrative  of  travels  on  the  Amazon. 

—  The  Geographical  Distribution  of  Animals,  Vol.  I. 

Island  Life. 

WALLACE,  DILLON  :   The  long  Labrador  trail. 

—  The  lure  of  the  Labrador  wild. 

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People,"  by  W.  T.  Grenfell  and  others. 
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editor,  1886). 

WATT,  W.  J. :    Across  the  Vatna  Jokull. 
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WEISE,  A.  J. :     The  discoveries  of  America  to  the  year  1525. 
WESTROPP,  T.  J. :     Brazil  and  the  legendary  islands  of  the  North  Atlantic. 

(Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  Vol.  30,  Sec.  C,  No.  8.) 
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....  London,  1622. 

WILLARD,  EMMA:    History  of  the  United  States. 
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(Includes  a  few  pages  on  the  Norse  visits  and  Yarmouth  inscriptions.) 
WINSOR,  JUSTIN  :  Christopher  Columbus  and  how  he  received  and  imparted  the 

spirit  of  discovery.     1891. 

•    From  Cartier  to  Frontenac. 
— • —  •    Christopher  Columbus. 

Narrative  and  critical  history  of  America,  Vol.  I. 

WRIGHT,  G.  F. :    The  great  ice  age. 

The  Greenland  ice  fields. 


INDEX. 

PAGE 

Acadian  Bay,  coincidence  of  names  at 53 

depression  of  shore  at 115 

Thorvald  at   69 

Adam  of  Bremen,  account  of  Wineland  by.... 56,  57,  90,    160,   161,   163, 

166,  171,  172 
Africa  in  relation  to  America.  ...8,  9,  10,  u,  15,  18,  20,  21,  60,  61,  63,  94, 

139,   167.   170,  174 

Age  of  discovery,  The    (Payne) 21 

Albania,  name  for  asserted  region 30 

Alberta,  winter  grazing  in 131 

Aleut,   Holm  on 153 

Alexander  the  Great  at  the  Azores 18 

Algonquian  myths,  Leland  on 50 

Algonquian  family 5,  6,  7,  121,  128,  129.  140.  145,  147 

Allen,  J.  A.,  history  of  American  bison 148 

Almachouqui   Algonquians    128 

Al-Tin,   origin   of   "  Antillia  " 18 ' 

"  America  of  the  Spaniards  " 29,  63,  171 

American  characteristic  coast   (Wonderstrands) . . .  .69,  80,   102,  112,  113, 

116,  135,  162 
American  Indians.    See  Indians,  Eskimo,  and  Skrellings. 

American   race    (Brinton) 2,  146 

Amerinds   (See  Indians  and  Skrellings) 3 

Amund,   Bishop  of  Skalholt 39,  40 

Angels  in  bird-form 14 

Anticosti,    Eskimo    at 140 

Antillia,   Island  of. 17,  18,  19,  20,  25 

Antilles,  The   20,  21,  26 

Antiquitates    Americans,    cited 28,  44,  60,  74,  136 

Appalachian    region,   bison   in 148 

Aquidneck  Island,  carven  rock  at 45,  138 

Arabic   names    12 

Araucanians,  Spanish  Chilians  absorbed  by 36 

Arctic  Foxes  mentioned  in  Saga 101,  106 

Ari.    (See  Erode  &  Marsson.) 

Ari  the  Wise 28,  58,  59,  142,  152,  161,  165 

Arne  Magnean  Codex  770 60 

Arne  Magnean  Codex  194 60 

Arne  iMagnean  Codex  557  (Eric  the  Red) 66 

Arne    Magnean    collection 28,  64 

Arnold,   Bishop  of  Greenland 55 

Arnold,  Governor,  windmill  of 44 

Arthurian  Legend  of  Iceland 12,  141 

191 


192  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS   COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

PAGE 

Asia,  migration   from 2,  3,  4,  7,  140 

Asmayda  or  Asmaida,  location  of 17,  25 

Athapascan    Indians 3,5,  140 

"  Atillie "   (the  word)   on  Pizigani  map  1367 59 

Atlantic  Ocean  3,  n,  17,  18,  26,  35,  46,  74,  107,  130,  163 

Atlantis,    legend    of 10,  18 

Avalon    Peninsula    108,  109,  156 

Avezac,    M.    de 8,  n,  16,  18,  24 

Ayllon,   de,   Colony  of 63 

Azores     8,  9,  10,  n,  17,  18,  19,  20,  22,  24,  128,  162 

Aztecs 6,  156 

Back  Bay,  Boston,  Hop  at 48,  49,  136 

Bacon,   E.   M.,  cited 45,  46,  131 

Baffin  Bay,  miniature  monument  at 43 

Baffin  Land.  Thorfinn  at 5,  54 

Bahamas,  asserted  early  visits  to 14,  15 

Ballads  in   Saga 79 

Bancroft,   H.   H.,   cited 7,  157 

Bandelier,  A.  R,  on  use  of  sling 156 

Bardsen,  Ivar,  relief  expedition  in  1337 39,  78,  94,  143 

Baron   of   Castine,  mentioned 49 

Basque  fishermen,  voyages  of 9,  49,  52,  174 

Bear   Island,    Greenland 33,  97 

Beauvois,  E.,  cited 29,  40 

Beccaria's   (Becharius)   map   (1435)   considered 19,20,25 

Behaim  globe  (1492),  inscription  as  to  Antillia 19 

Belle  Isle  Strait 108,  in,  156 

Benincasa  Map   ( 1482)   considered 19,  25 

Beothuk    (Beothik)    Indians   in   Newfoundland...^,  6,  42,  109,  121,  144, 

153,  154,  156 

Bering   Strait    2,  144 

Bermudas,  possible  early  visits  to 12,  26 

Bertran,  G.,  map  considered 19 

Bianco  Map   ( 1436)   considered 19,  20,  25,  26 

Biarni,  death  of 105 

discovery   by    69 

Biarney  Island   33,  108,  no,  162 

Biggar,  H.   P.,  cited 33 

Biorn,  lost  Saga  of 28,  29,  160 

Biornsland 54 

Bird  Islands   61,  62,  102,  119,  120,  162 

Bison,  American,  former  distribution  of 147,  148,  149 

Blacksark,  Greenland   66 

Bleekman  and  Newton  cited 107 

Blome,  R.,  cited 108 

Blood  feud  in  Iceland 31 

Blowguns    157 

Boats,  Eskimo  and  Indian 139,  150,  157 

Boats,  Norse  100,  101,  108,  1 12,  159 

Boggild,    R,   cited 48 


NO.    IQ  NORSE    VISITS   TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  IQ3 

PAGE 

Bonavista  Bay,  forests  at 108 

Boston  as  Norse  site 46,  47,  48,  49,  129,  136,  139 

Botoner's  voyage  of  1480 21 

Bran,    Voyage   of 12,  159 

Brandan,    Saint    13-16,  159 

Brand,  Bishop  67 

Bras   d'Or    no,  112 

Brattahlid,   Greenland    34,  83,  85,  86 

Brazil,    Island    of 17,  21-26,  36,  62,  166,  172,  174 

Brazil-wood    24,  172 

Brazir,    Ysole    21 

Brereton's    voyages    57,  145 

Breton  fishermen   49,  50,  174 

Brinton,  D.  G.,  cited 2,  6,  27,  146,  153 

Brion  Island   22 

Bristol,  England  21,  172,  174 

Bristol,  R.  1 131,  137,  138 

Brittany     8,  10,  25,  42,  ill 

Broadfirth,   Iceland    32 

Brown,  Professor,  on  coast  uplift 114 

Bryniolf,    Bishop 64,  74 

Bugge,    S.,    cited 63,  86 

Bus,  sunken  land  of 17 

Buxelle   (or  Brazil)    Island 24 


Cabeza  de  Vaca 41 

Cabot,  John 9,  21,  22,  23,  26,  109,  116,  155,  156,  172,  174 

Cabot,    Sebastian    155,  156,  172 

Cabot  Strait  23,  no,  171 

Cabot  turned  southward  from  course 71 

Cabral,  landfall  of 9,  20,  163,  174 

Caddo    Indians    145 

Cadiz,  Phenician  town 8,  9,  10 

Cambrensis,    Giraldus 37 

Campobello,  Bay  of  Fundy 117,  118 

Canaria,   Ysola    • 16 

Canary  Islands 8,  9,  10,  15,  16,  17,  21,  57,  163,  164,  167 

Canoes,  Indian  and  Eskimo 121,  150,  151,  152,  153,  154 

Canso,    Strait   of 41,  62 

Cantwell,    E.,    cited 14 

Cape  Ann    127,  128,  135,  136 

Cape  Breton  Island 23,  29,  42,  62,  no,  112,  113,  129,  130,  156,  170,  171 

Cape    Charles    112 

Cape  Cod   29,44,46,89,  no,  in,  116,  123,  128,  145,  149 

Cape   Harrison    106 

Cape   Hatteras    29 

Cape    Henlopen    112 

Cape  of  Good  Hope n 


194  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

PAGE 

Cape  Race    8 

Cape   Verde   Islands 1 1 

Caporizzia  Island,  Capraria,  Legname,  Madeira 16 

Capraria    (Legname)    Island    16 

Caradog  of  Llancarvan,  his  history  of  Cambria 36 

Caribbean    Sea    9 

Carmack,  W.  O.,  cited   42,  109 

Carolina    coast    169 

Carthage,    Phenicians   of 10 

Cartier,  cited 23,  43,  57,  62,  109,  120,  133,  135,  156 

Cartland,  J.  H.,  cited 50 

Cartwright,  Capt 6,  42,  109,  120,  153 

Carving,  Innuit    150,  151 

Casco  Bay,    127 

Castine,  "  rune  stone  "  at 50 

Catalan  Map    ( 1375) 16,  21 

Cave  hunting  (Dawkins) 150 

Celts    9,  12 

Celtic  Review,  cited 14 

Chamberlain,  A.  R,  cited 3 

Chambers,  Robt.  W.,  cited 53 

Champlain's  voyages.  ..  .5,  42,  48,  49,  51,  57,  71,  78,  92,  no,  119,  122,  123, 

124,  125,  126,  127,  128,  129,  132,  134,  154 

Champlain's  Cape  Ann  costume  line 127,  128 

Charles   River    46,   47,   48,   49 

Chart  of  derelicts   (Horsford) 8,  71 

Chatham  Harbor    127 

Chesapeake  Bay 4,  5,  29,  63,  108,   no,   116,   124,   131,   145,   154,   167 

Chesapeake    Peninsula    113 

Chickahominy   Indians    4 

Chile     4 

Chincoteague  ponies   132 

Chinese  and  Cambodian  resemblances  in  sculpture 7 

Christie,  M.,  cited 23 

Climatic  changes  along  American  Coast 94 

Coast   of  Desolation 33 

Coast   uplift  and  depression 114,  115 

Cobequid  hills,   Nova   Scotia 130 

Cocoa  palm,  O.  F.  Cook  on  distribution  of 7 

Collingwood,  W.  G.,  cited 135 

Columbus,  Christopher i,  9,  n,  14,  19,  20,  26,  49,  128,  163,  172,  174,  175 

Colvin,    V.,    cited 117 

Compass,  early  lack  of 8 

Conigi  Island   10 

Connecticut,  Indian  names  in 138 

Connecticut  River 6 

Conquest  of  Iceland   (Apochryphal)   by  Arthur ....12,  141 

Cook,  O.  F.,  cited 7 

Cooper,   James   Fenimore,   cited 147 


NO.    19  NORSE    VISITS   TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  195 

PAGE 

Copan,  Cambodian  figures  at 7 

Cornu   du   Gallia 41,  in 

Correlation  of  Maya  and  Christian  chronology  (Morley) 6 

Cortereal's   voyage    108,  156 

Corvo    Island    , n,  20,  21 

Costa,  B.  F.,  de 12,  34,  48,  79,  171 

Costumes   (Indian)    125,     127,     128,  141,  149,  151,  155 

Crags  mentioned  in   Saga 138,  158 

Crossness,   burial   at 70 

Crusaders,    tithes    for 171 

Cuba  and  neighboring  islands  called  Antilles 20 

Cuba  compared  with  Antillia  as  to  position,  etc 19 

Cup   stones,    Indian : 45 

Currents,  ocean 9,  117,   1 18,   124,   127,  128 

Dakota  Indians 149,  153 

Ball,    W.    H.,    cited 2,  125,  144 

Dalorto  map,  1325 17,  22 

Daly,   Dominick,  cited 13,  15 

Daly,  R.  A.,  on  coast  uplift 114 

Dams,  Indian    46,  47 

Danforth,  Dr.,  cited 44 

Danish  Greenland   (Rink) 33,  39,  43,  44,  95 

Dagmalastad    (breakfast  time) 73 

D'Avezac,  iM.,  cited    8,  n,  16,  18,  24 

Davies,  cited    36 

Davis,  C.  A.,  cited 1 14,  137 

Davis,  John,  cited 33,   108,   150,   155 

Davis  Strait , 33 

Dawkins,  Boyd,  cited 150 

Dawson,   S.   E.,  cited 92 

De  Ayllon,  colony  of 63 

De  Costa,  B.  F.,  cited 12,  34,  48,  79,  171 

Debes,  L.  J.,  cited 177 

Delaware    coast    1 16 

Delaware,  Indians  of 47 

Dellenbaugh,   F.    S.,   cited 153 

"  Demon's   head,"   of  Indians ., 157,  158 

De    Mont's    colonists 49,  122 

Denys,    N.,    cited 117,  1 19 

Depression,  glacial  of  upper  American  coast 113,  114,  115,  116 

Depression  of  shore  of  Acadian  Bay 115 

Depression,  post  glacial,  of  American  coast  below  Maine 37,  164 

De  Soto   in   Carolina 149 

Derelicts,  movements  of 8 

De  Roo,  P.,  cited 14 

Devil   Rock    25 

Dicuil,  Irish  geographer   27 

Dieserud,  Juul    i,  54,  75,  94 

Digby,    Nova    Scotia 52,  121 


196  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

PAGE 

Dighton   rock   pictures 44,  45,  137 

Diman,  J.  L.,  cited 79 

Diodorus  Siculus,  Phenician  legend  of 8,  21 

Disco   Island    33 

Dogs,  Indian  and  Eskimo 139,  150,  151 

"  Doegr,"  meaning  of 101,  106,  1 10,  129 

Dolmen-like  stone  structure  of  Malicete  Indians 120 

Dorchester  flats 48 

Dragon  on  maps 18,  21 

Drogio  or  Drogeo 40,  41 

Du  Challu's  "  Viking  Age  "  cited 50 

Duelling  in  Iceland 31 

Du   Guast,   River 49 

Dulcert  map,  1339 16 

Earthly  paradise,  legend  of 14,  15 

Easter   Island    : 9 

Eastern   settlement,   Greenland 39 

East-outland     40 

Eastport,   Maine    74,  117,  118,  121 

Eddie  Poems,  Home  of  the  (Bugge) 86 

Edrisi's    geography    10,  n,  18,  38,  106,  167,  171 

Egede,  Hans,  cited 39>  4A  51 

Egg-islands 61,  62,   102,   119,   120,   162 

Egypt,    ships    of 9 

Elevation,  post  glacial,  of  upper  Atlantic  coast 113,  114,  115,  116,  164 

Elymus  arenarius   (strand  oats) 94,  95,  132,  133 

English    settlement    relics 5,  46,  47,  50,  52 

Eric  the  Red 26,  31,  32,  33,  34,  44,  52,  55,  56,  58,  59,  67,  69,  81,  97, 

105,  no,  120,  161 

Eric   Gnupson,   Bishop 54,  55,  170 

Fric,  King   61 

Ericsfirth   or   Gardar 82,  83 

Ericsson,  Leif.    (See  Leif.) 

Ernulphus     14 

Erondelle  translation  of  Nova  Francia,  cited..  .40,  56,  71,  92,  123,  130,  133,  134 

Escociland  as  perhaps  the  original  form  of  the  name  Estotiland 40,  62 

Eskimo.... 2,  3,  5,  6,  34,  39,  51,  i°9,  121,  130,  139,  140,  142,  I4S,  147,  149, 

150,  151,  153,  154,  155,  156,  160,  167 

Eskimo  Legends   53,  109 

Espinosa,  Father  14,  I5»  *6 

Essequibo    River    I52 

Estotiland    40,   41,   62,    172 

European  Islands,  western  visitors  to 8 

Examen  Critique   (Humboldt)   cited 7,  8,  74 

Explosive  body  used  by  Indians 157,  158 

Eyktarstad  of  the  sun 73 

Eyrbyggia   Saga    .' 28,  59,  99 


NO.    19  NORSE  VISITS  TO   NORTH   AMERICA — BABCOCK  IQ7 

PAGE 

Fagundes  expedition  49 

Fairy   Lake    52 

Fairy  lands   165,  166 

Fall  River  44,  158 

Faroe  Islands 8,  27,  38,  62,  131,  177 

Feather   Islands,    The 61,  62 

Fernald,  M.  L.,  cited 91,  132,  151 

Fewkes,  J.  W.,  cited 49,  52,  117,  1 18,  124 

Finding  of  Wineland  the  Good  (The),  cited 29,  56,  59,  60,  61,  64,  66, 

68,  71,  75,  102,  103,  107,  129 

Finland,  referred  to  as  Vinland 54 

Finn,  applied  to  three  races 167 

Fiord-cut   shore    1 18 

Fiord  separating  Wineland  from  "  America  of  the  Spaniards  " 63,  171 

Fischer,  J.,  cited 40,  172 

Fishing  devices,  Indian 47 

Fish  mentioned  in  Saga 131 

Fiske,  John,  cited.... 7,  27,  33,  41,  71,  74,  75,  94,  95,  139,  141,  148,  156,  157 

Flateybook 28,  56,  61,  64,  65,  67,  in,  116,  118,  162 

Flateybook  Wineland  Saga,  The 64,  65,  66,  68,  70,  71,  74,  116,  143,  162 

Flom,   Mr.,   cited 54 

Flores,   (Azores)    1 1,  20,  25 

Forest  Land 16,  17,  26,  62 

Fortunate  Islands 14,  15,  16,  57,  162,  163,  165,  167 

Fortunate  Islands  of  St.  Brandan 16,  17,  163,  166 

Fountain    of  youth 15 

Foxes,  Arctic  101,  106 

Fox  grapes   164,  170 

Freducci   maps   considered 19 

Freydis,   Eric's    daughter 66,  70 

Friederici,    Dr.,    cited 156 

Frisbok,  mentioned   59 

Frisland    38,    62,    173 

Frobisher's  voyages   17,  150 

Frode,    Ari    28,  58,  59,  142,  152,  161,  165 

Frodis  Water    151 

Fuegians,  stature  of 145 

Fundy,  Bay  of 6,  23,  51,  52,  62,  72,  92,  112,  117,  118,  119,  120,  124,  126, 

130,  133,  154,  170 

Funk  Island   62,  102,  120,  153 

Furdurstrandir   (The  Wonderstrands) 80,  102,  104,   113,   116,  160 

Gaddiano  map  16 

Gaelic  runners    '. 1 18 

Gallia,   cornu   du 41,  in 

Games,    Indian    51 

Gardar,  Greenland    34,  39,  43,  73 

Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  Arthurian  conquest  related  by 12 

Geographical  formula   60 


198                      SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS            VOL.  59 

PAGE 

Gessner  on  depression  of  coast 115 

Gilyaks,  Saghalien   147 

Glacial  depression  of  American  coast 3,  113,  114 

Glacial  era,  land  elevation  since t 113,  114,  115 

Eskimo  advanced  northward   since 140 

Godthaab,  Greenland   , 107,  155 

Gold  in   Mexico 149 

Gomez,   expedition   of 49,  92 

Gosnold,    cited    44,  145,  149 

Graah,  W.  A.,  cited 43 

Grain  and  grapes,  wild 56,  57,   123,   130,   132,  133,  134,   135,   160,   161, 

162,  163,  164,  165,  168,  169 

Grajales,    cited    155 

Grand    Manan    Channel 69,  73,  74,  112,  117 

Grand  Manan,  Norsemen  at.... 51,  72,  74,  105,  113,  117,  119,  121,  122,  126, 

130,    169,  170 

Graves  of  Thorbrand  and  Thorvald 49,  70 

Grape   problem    examined 90-94,  124,  130,  163,  164,  165,  168 

Grapes,   wild    56,  57,  123,  130,  132,  133,  134,  135,  160,  161,  162 

Grazing,   fine    121,  131,  132 

Great  Falls  of  the  Potomac 48 

Great  Ireland   21,  26,  27,  29,  30,  59,  105,  165,  169 

Great  Sweden    27,  28 

Greek  craft's  landfall... 8 

Greek  myths  of  western  islands 7,  9,  162 

Greenland 8,  17,  52,  55,  58,  62,  69,  70,  81,  160,  161,  170 

Christianity   in 59,  161,  173 

discovery  of  142 

Eskimo    of    143,  150,  151 

extinction  of  Norsemen  in 39,  40 

Norse   colony   in 30-35,  64,  82-86 

population    of    44 

Grenfell,  W.  T.,  cited 107,  114 

Grettir 32 

Grocland    62 

Guanches     15 

Guast,    dn,   River 49 

Gudleif's    voyage    29,  54,  160 

Gudrid 28,  32,  35,  50,  59,  60,  66,  69,  72,  81,  105,  112 

Gudrid's  visit  to  Rome 87 

Guiot    de    Provins 37 

Gulf  of  /Maine 114,  128,  131,  170 

Gulf  of  Mexico 3 

Gulf    Stream    127 

Gunnbiorn's   islets    33 

Gwynedd,  Owen   36 


NO.    19  NORSE   VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  IQ9 

PAGE 

Haconsson,   John    65 

Haggard,  H.  Rider,  cited 10 

Hagar,   S.,  cited 7 

Haki  and  Haekia,  story  of 90,  118,  123,  132 

Hakluyt,  cited    89,  155 

Haliburton,  R.  C,  cited 92,  153 

Hall   o'  the   Side 58 

Hamilton    Inlet    108,  141 

Hampton,  New  Hampshire,  cross-marked  stone  at 49 

Harko's    son    52 

Harpoons,    Eskimo 139,  151,  157 

Harrisse,   H.,  cited 116,  155 

Harshberger,  J.  W.,  cited 133,  134 

Hauk,   Erlendsson    64,  67,  116,  143,  161 

Hauksbook   Saga    56,  64,  66 

Haup,  the  name 138 

Hawaii,  peopling   of 9 

Hawes,  C.  H.,  cited 147 

Heimskringla  27,  43,  100,  101,  147,  161 

Helluland 29,  54,  56,  60,  63,  69,  72,  101,  106,  107,  112,  160,  162,  170 

Henry  Hudson   (Bacon) 131 

Henry,   Prince   9 

Heriolf     83 

Heriolfsness 40,   69,   81 

Hermannsson,   H.,  bibliography  by 63 

Hertzberg,   cited    51,  167 

Higginson,  T.   W.,  cited 45,  101,  157 

Hill-tout,  C.,  cited 7 

Hochelaga    43,   57,   133 

Holand,  H.  R.,  cited 53 

Holm,    G.,   cited 44,  144,  153 

Holmes,  W.  H.,  cited 2,  51 

Honduras,  Mayas  in 6,  13 

Honen    inscription    63,  160 

Hop 69,  74,  118,  128,  129,  130,  132,  134,  135,  136,  139,  141,  148,  149,  151, 

155,  160,  162,  163,  169,  170 

Hopedale 107 

Hope   Island    119 

Hopeton   inscription    44 

Hornaday  (The  Extermination  of  the  American  Bison) 148 

Horsford,   Cornelia,  cited 49 

Horsford,   E.   N.,  cited 8,  46,  47,  48,  55,  71,  136 

Housatonic   River    6 

Howley,  M.  R,  cited 53,  73,  108 

Hudson,  Henry,  voyage  of 71,  128 

Hudson  Bay   5,  53,  54,  H4 

Hudson  River    6,  118,  134,  157 

Huitramannaland    54,    168 

Hull,   Eleanor,   cited 85 

14 


2OO  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

PAGE 

Humboldt;  Alex,  von,   cited 7,  8,  18,  25,  74,  168 

Hunafloi    Bay    135 

Hunting  at  Eastport 121 

Huron  Indians    133 

Hutcheson,    David    i,  45 

Hutisark  of  Olaus  Magnus 67 

Iberian  Peninsula    8,  10 

Icaria     37 

Iceland 2,  8,  12,  13,  27,  28-35,  43,  50,  52,  55,  58,  61,  64,  66,  69.  70,  81, 

85,  86,  93,  no,  in,  117,  131,  133,  135,  136,  141,  142,  143,  151, 

159,  161,  162,  165,  166,  170,  171,  172 

Icelandic  and  Greenland  house-sites 48,  95 

Icelandic  Annals   54,  61,  160,  162 

Icelandic-Celtic   intermarriages    85,  86 

Icelandic  literature 2,  31,  46,  59,  62,  76-81,  82,  85,  86,  162,  172 

Icelandic    Secretaries    (Hank's) 64 

Icelandic  voyages 54,  58,  61,  64,  66,  70,  73,  112,  117,  124,  128,  129 

Icod,    Canary   Islands 15 

Igaljico  inlet 34 

Inca  conquests   6,  156 

Incantation  by  Thorbiorg  and  Gudrid 82 

Indian   Corn    57,  133,  134,  *35,  148,  161 

Indian  River   47 

Indian    royalties    92,  128 

Indians,  American.     (See  also  Skrellings) 2,  146 

Algonquian 5,  6,  7,   121,  128,  129,   140,   145,  157 

Asiatic   origin   of 2,  3,  147 

at   Wineland    70,  71,  141 

boats    151,  153 

Beothuk 5,  6,  42,  109,  121,  144,  153,  154,  156 

census   of    4 

Chickahominy    4 

costumes 109,  125,   127,  128,   141,  149,   151,   155 

distribution    of    5 

fisheries c 47 

games     51 

giants     53 

inscriptions   by    45,  49,  50,  54,  121 

Iroquois 3,  4-  5,  5O,  53,  145,  *47 

languages  of    3 

Maguaquadevic     l 120 

maize    culture    by 57,  T34 

Malicete 120,  121 

Mattapony     4 

Micmac 5,  120 

Mound  builders    149 

Muskhogean    3,  5 

Nansemond    4 


NO.    IQ*          XORSE   VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  2OI 


PAGE 

Nanticoke     47,  145 

Nascopie    109,  153 

Nez    Perces    145 

Ojibway     44,  50,  157 

Omaha     153 

origin    of    2,  3,  147 

Osage 145 

Pamunkey     4 

Passamaquoddy 50,  51,  87,   117-121,   124,   152,   170 

Powhatan     4,  149 

Shoshonean    3,  5,  6 

Siotian    3,  5 

Souriqui     5,  120 

stature    of    144,  145 

Susquehanna     145,  148 

Tinne     109 

unity  of  146 

Wampanoag   45 

weapons    of 154,  156,  158 

Welsh    (alleged)    35 

wild  rice  cultivated  by 56,  72 

Indian  village  site  at  Grand  JVIanan 122 

Ingram's  journey  42 

Innuit  (American  Eskimo) 2,  3,  5,  6,  34,  39,  51,  109,  121,  130-156,  160,  167 

Inscription  concerning  Antillia 19 

Inscription,    Cryptic 15,  16 

Inscriptions,  Norse,  real  or  asserted 43-48,  50,  52,  60,  63,  160 

Insulle  a  Novo  Repte 19 

Ipswich,  "  Norse  "  stone  work  at 49 

Ireland 9,  12,  21,  23,  26-29,  159,  165 

Irish  ancestors  of  Snorri 85 

Irish- Arab  legends   14,  15 

Irish    Church    27,  30 

Irish   legends   of   discovery 10,  12,  13,  27,  57,  159,  165,  172 

Irish  names    12 

Irish-Norse  interchange  of  legends 8,  159,  162,  165 

Irish  settlement  at  Iceland 27 

Iroquois    Indians    3,  4,  5,  50,  53,  145,  147 

Isidore  of  Seville 57,  163 

Island-group  of  Antillia 19 

Island  of  Man  or  Mam 21 

Island  of  St.  Brandan 17 

Island  of  the  Dragon 10,  18 

Island  of  the  Hand  of  Satan 19,  21 

Island  of  the  Seven  Cities 22 

Islandic  MS.  of  Wineland  Sagas 68 

Isle  of  Birds 10 

Isle  of  Joy 12 


2O2  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

PAGE 

Isle   of   Sheep 10 

Islendingabok 28,  59,   142,   161,  165 

Italians  in  the  Azores 1 1,  12,  20 

Jack,  J.  E.,  cited 52 

Jamestown,  settlement    63 

Jenks,  A.  E.,  cited 56,  135 

Joncele  Island  25 

Jones   Sound,  Greenland 142 

Jonsson,   Arngrim    62 

Jonsson,  Gisli    62 

Jonsson,  Finnur  .- 68 

Kakortok  church,  Greenland 34 

Kamchatka,  migration  to  America  from .  .3,  147 

Karlsefni,  Thorfinn.     (See  Thorfmn  Karlsefni). 

Kayaks 130,  139,  150,  151,  153,  162 

Keelness 46,  69,  72,  no,  in,  112,  160,  162 

Kennan,  George,   cited 147 

Kennebec    River    6,  121,  128,  133 

Kensington   "  rune-stone  "    53,  54 

Kilhwch  and  Olwen,  story  of 12 

King  Philip 5 

Kirke,   Mr.,  cited 152 

Kjallarness  (Kiallarness,  Keelness) 46,  69,  72,  no,  in,  112,  160,  162 

Knutson,   Paul,   expedition  of 39 

Kohl,  J.  G.,  cited , 16,  18,  40,  42 

Konungabok     59 

Koryak  tribe  in   Kamchatka 147 

Kretschmer,  K.,   cited 16,  19 

Kristni   Saga   59,  64,  161 

Labrador. ..  .3,  29,  53,  100,  106,  107,  108,  114,  116,  117,  133,  141,  150,  151,  170 

current 94,    no,    127 

La  Cosa,  Juan  de 19,  20 

Lacrosse,   game   of 50,  167 

Laing,  S.,  cited 27,  100,  101,  147 

Lake    Superior   canoes 1 52 

Landfalls,  accidental,  instances  of 8,  9,  28,  29,  163 

Landing  of  Sea  Tribes 7 

Landnamabok 27,  28,  59,  64,  69,  81,  161,  162 

Land-Rolf 61 

Languages  in  North  America 4,  7,  n,  25,  29 

Laplanders     141,  167 

Las    Casas 20 

Las  Desertas   16 

Law   of   Iceland 31 

Laxdaela   Saga    85 

Legendary    islands    12-30,  163,  166,  168 

Legname,   I.    de 9,  16,  22,  25,  163,  164 


NO.    19  NORSE   VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA  -  BABCOCK 


PAGE 
Leif   Ericsson    ...........................  56,  63,  67,  68,  69,  71,  116,  122,  123 

discoverer  of  America  ...........................................   175 

first  mention   of  .................................................   161 

landfall   of    .....................................................     48 

Nansen  on    ..................................................  159-168 

sent   to    Greenland  .............................................  59,  60 

the  Lucky   ....................................................  60,  61 

voyage    historic     ................................................  I,  9 

voyages    of  ................................................  87-96,  159 

Wineland  discovered  by  ............................  83,  87-96,  161,  170 

Leif's-booths  ...............................  ..................  48,  69,   70,  94 

Leif  s  crossing  from  Greenland  to  Europe  ...............  .  ..............     87 

Leif's  lowest  point  as  defined  by  Wine  Grapes  ....................  93,  64,  170 

Leland,  C.  G.,  cited  ...................................................     50 

Lescarbot,  cited  .....................  42,  56*  57,  71,  92,  123,  130,  133,  134,  150 

Lewes,  Delaware    .....................................................     47 

Lewisburg,    Pa  ........................................................   148 

Limerick    ...................................................  17,  21,  30.  172 

Little  Falls  of  the  Potomac  ............................................   131 

Littoral  tribes    ........................................................       7 

Living   Island    ........................................................     15 

Lloyd's  notes,   cited  ..............  •  .....................................  5,  36 

Longfellow,  H.  W.,  cited  ..............................................     44 

Long  Island,  New  York  ...............................................     29 

Long  Island,  Nova   Scotia  .............................................   124 

Longer  Saga  of  King  Olaf  the  Saint  ...................................     60 

Louisbourg     ..........................................................   115 

Lubec,  Maine   .....................................................  1  18,  124 

'Lucas,   F.   W.,   cited  .......................................  37,  38,  39,  40,  42 

Lyme   grass    ..........................................................   132 

Lyschander,   Danish  poet,  cited  ........................................     55 

Lysufirth    .....................................................  „  .......     70 

Mabou   River    ........................................................   HI 

MacDougall,    Alan    ...................................................   109 

McGee,  W  J,  cited  ................................................  1,5,  137 

Mclntosh,  iMr.,   cited  .................  v  ..........................  51,  52,  115 

Madeira  .......................................  9,  16,  21,  22,  25,  163,  164,  169 

Madeira,  referred  to  in  connection  with  legend  of  Diodorns  .............     21 

Madoc,  voyages   of  .........................  '.  .....................  14,  35,  36 

Madonna,  image  of  ..................................................  15,  16 

Maelduin,    voyage    of  ............................................  13,  14,  159 

Magdalen  Islands   ..................................................  22,  117 

Magna    Graecia    ......................................................     28 

Magnusson,  Arne,  supplies  title  to  saga  ................................     65 

Magnusson,   Morris   and,  cited  .........................................     99 

Maguaquadevic     ............................  r  .........................   120 

Magrurin  expedition    ...............................................  1  1,  106 

Maine  ..............................  6,  50,  72,  114,  116,  117,  123,  127,  145,  164 

Maize  ............................................  57,  133,  134,  135,  148,  161 


2O4  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

PAGE 

Major,   R.    H.,   cited. 33,  37,  38,  40,  155 

Mallebarre    129 

Malicete  Indians    120,  121 

Mallery,    G.,    cited 44 

Malo,    St 14 

Man  de  Satanaxio,  La 19,  25 

Man   (or  Mam)   Island 21,  25,  26 

Manitoba     135 

Map  of  Beccaria  (1435) — considered 19 

Benincasa     (1482) — considered 19 

Bertran — considered    19 

Bianco     (1436) — considered 19 

Catalan     (1375) — considered 16 

Coastal    elevation — considered 114 

da  Napoli,  Zuan,  considered 1 1,  16,  18 

derelicts    (Horsford) — considered 8,  71 

Fourteenth    Century — considered 1 1 

Gaddiano   (Atlante  Mediceo  1351) — considered 16 

Juan  de  la  Cosa — considered 19 

medieval  times — considered    1 1,  14,  19 

Mercator     (1595) — considered 22,  41,  in 

Ortelius — considered     41,  172 

Pareto    ( 1455) — considered 19 

Pizigani   Brothers    (1367) — considered 16,  18,21,24 

Pomponius    Mela — considered 16 

Prunes  (1553) — considered  22 

relating  to  the  New  World  (Nordenskjold> — considered 20 

Rosselli — considered 19 

Ruysch — considered     33 

Sebastian  Cabot — considered 155 

Sigurdr  Stefansson — considered    29,  38,  62 

Stefansson  (1590)   29,  38,  62,  no,  in,  135 

Weimar    (mismarked   1424) — considered 19 

Wytfliet    (1597) — considered    in 

Zuan  da  Napoli — considered 1 1 

March,  Mary,  Beothuk  prisoner 144 

Margarie   River    in 

Maria,    the   sloop 107 

Maritime  Provinces   117,  121, 133 

Markham,  Sir  Clements 14,  106 

Markland 29,  39,  54,  60,  61,  63,  69,  72,  108,  109,  141,  160,  162,  166,  167, 

170,  171,  172,  174 

Markland   (the  name) — d'Legname  or  Madeira 16,  17,  26 

Marsson,    Ari    8,  29,  165 

Maryland 29,  in,  112,  113,  131,  133,  135 

Massachusetts     47,  17° 

Massachusetts    Bay    - 132 

Mather,   Cotton,   cited 46,  137 

Mattapony   Indians    4 

Mausur  wood   47,  61,  95 


NO.    19  NORSE   VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  2O5 

PAGE 

Maya   people    6,  156 

Mayan   ruins    7 

Mayda    ( Asmayda)     17,  25 

Meade,    Bishop,   cited 42 

Medieval  maps — considered    1 1,  14,  19 

Mediterranean   Sea    9 

Memoires  Societe  Royale,  etc 28,  39,  50,  55,  61,  68,  70,  71,  75,  92,  107, 

109,  112,  120,  130,  143,  152,  168,  172 

Menane    (Manan)    ^. 119 

Merman,  Eskimo   130 

Mernoc,  search   for 14 

Merrimack  River  47 

Mexico   4,  6,  7,   133,   149,  156 

Valley  of  7,  141 

Micmac  Indians  5,  6,  42,  52,  120,  121,  133,  145,  146,  156 

Midiokul,  Greenland   66 

Miller,    Mr.,    cited 45 

Minnesota,  "  rune  stone  "  in 53 

Miramichi     52 

Missile  on  pole 157,  158 

Mississippi  Valley,  Great  Ireland  in 29 

Mongoloid  tribes    7 

Monhegan  Island  inscription 50 

Monsters  of  the  sea 10,  15,  18,  21,  24 

Montauk,  meaning  of 138 

Montaup,  meaning  of 138 

Montorious,  Brazil  Isle  22 

Mont's    de,    colonists 49,  122 

Moon  of  Weird 151 

Mooney,    James,    cited I,  138,  157 

Moorish   Conquest   22 

Morgan,  L.  H.,  cited 5 

Morris  and  Magnusson,  cited 99 

Moulton's  History  of  New  York 94 

Mound-builders 5,    148,    149 

Mound  near  Indian  River,  Del 47 

Mount  Desert  Island 128 

Mount  Hope   138 

Bay 44,  45,  131,  136,  137,  138,  139 

Munro,  W.  H.,  cited 131,  138 

Muskhogean    family    3,  5 

Mythical  islands   12-30,  166,  168 

Nain,   Labrador    107 

Nansemond    4 

Nansen,  Fr.,  cited...  .8,  9,  21,  22,  33,  50,  55,  60,  89,  96,  105,  109,  116,  119, 

141,  150,  158,  159,  160,  162,  167,  168,  170,  171 

Nansen's  recognition  of  Norse  discoveries  in  America 159,  160 

Nanticoke   Indians    47,  145 

Nantucket  Island    128,  131 


2O6  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

PAGE 

Napoli,  Zuan  da n,  16 

.Narragansett  Bay 5,  45,  128,  131,  132,  136,  138,  145,  154 

Nascopie   Indians    109,  153 

Nauset,   Cape   Cod 127,  128,  129,  132,  149,  151 

"  Neck  "  as  used  along  the  Chesapeake no 

Nelson,  E.  W.,  cited 144 

New  Brunswick   6,  51,  52,  72,  120,  123,  140 

New  Hampshire  128 

New  Jersey 29,  112,  113,  149,  169 

"  New  Lands  "   61,  62 

New  Madrid   1 15 

New  Mexico   22 

Newport  "  tower,"  origin  of 44 

New  York,  depression  of  land  at. 4,  137 

Nez   Perces   Indians 145 

Niagara,  geological  observations  at .' . .  114 

Nicholas   of  Lynne 34 

Nicholas  of  Thingeyri   61,  167 

Nordenskjold,  A.  E.,  cited 19,  20,  21,  22 

Normans 9,  20,  127,  166,  174 

Norse  Conquests  in  Wine  countries 90 

Norse-Irish  legends 8,  159,  162,  169,  172 

Norse  ships 100,  101,  108,  1 12,  159 

Norse  voyages 1,  43,  54,  75,  87-96,  112,  117,  124,  128,  129,  139,  142,  159,  161 

Norsemen 2,  10,  27,  30,  50,  51,  52,  54,  59,  98,  99,  100,  109,  117,  118,  120, 

122,  131,  138,  141,  142,  147,  151,  154 

North  America,  peopling  of 3,  4,  8,  26,  174 

North  Head,  Grand  Manan 122 

Norton    Sound 144 

Norumbega,  city  of 42,  46-48 

Nova  Francia   56,  71,  130,  133,  134 

Nova  Scotia 6,  37,  41,  52,  63,  72,  94,  112,  113,  116,  117,  123,  170 

Nova  Scotian  wine  berries 92 

Nutt,  Alfred,   cited    12,  13 

Ocean  City,  /Md 137 

Ocean    currents    9 

Ojibway   Indians    157 

Ojibway  interpretation  of  Dighton  Rock  inscription 44 

Ojibway  myths    50 

Olaf  sends  Leif  to  Greenland 88 

Olaf   Tryggvason    30,  31,  56,  59 

Olaus  Magnus   18,  67 

Olson,  Dr.  J.  E.,  cited i,  66,  68,  75,  102,  143 

Omaha    Indian    boats 153 

Ordericus  Vitalis 54 

Orkney    Islands    13,  27,  165 

Ortelius   map   considered 41,  172 

Osage    Indians    145 

Osgood  on  Maritime  Provinces 117 


NO.    19  NORSE   VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  2O? 

PAGE 

Owen,  Gwynedd  36 

Owens,  Gutyn   37 

Oxney  (Ox  Island) 32 

Packard,    A.    S.,    cited 53,  100,  102,  106,  109,  114,  140 

Pamunkey    Indians    4 

Passamaquoddy   (Indians  and   Bay) 50,  51,  87*   117-121,  124,  152,  170 

Patterson,    George,    cited 144,  153 

Payne,  E.  J.,  cited 21 

Pemaquid,  old  ruins  at 50 

Pennsylvania,  bison   in    148 

Penobscot  River    6,  121,  123,  128 

People  of  the  Polar  North  (Rasmussen) 153 

Peopling  of  North  America 2,  3,  4,  8,  26,  172 

Periplus    (Nordenskjold) 20 

Peru,  soulptures  in 7 

Petit   Dieppe    , 20 

Phantom  City    10 

Phenician    voyages    8,  9,  10 

Philip,    King    5 

Pico  Island   16,  164 

Pictographs 7,  45,  46,   137,  150 

Pizigani   map    16,  18,  21,  24 

Place  names   (transferred  from  Iceland) 79 

Plants  of  Wineland,  The  (Fernald) 91,  132 

Plutarch's  account  of  ancient  voyages 117 

Polynesian  languages  in  America 7 

voyages    9 

Pomponius   Mela   16 

Ponce    de    Leon 15 

Pool  of  Youth 15 

Poole,  H.  S.,  cited 115 

Porcupine  Bank   23 

Porter's    journal    cited 51 

Porto  Santo    16,  164,  166,  169 

Portsmouth   Bay,  Aquidneck 45 

Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire 129 

Portuguese  discoveries   1 1,  20 

Powell,   D.,   cited 36 

Powhatan    Indians    4,  149 

Pre-Columbian  voyages    7,  17 

Primaria   Island    16 

Prince    Edward's    Island 22,  156 

Provins,  Guiot  de 37 

Prunes's  map,  considered 22 

Putnam,  Professor,  cited 50 

Rafn,   C.   C,  cited 28,  29,  44,  60,  73,  74,  132,  133,  136 

Raleigh's   Colony    35 


208  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

PAGE 

Rasmussen,   V.,   cited 153 

Rau,   C,  cited 45 

Red  Indian  Lake 109 

Reeves,  A.  M.,  cited 29,  56,  59,  60,  61,  64,  66,  68,  71,  75,  102,  103,  107,  129 

Rehoboth  Bay  47 

Relics  of  Norse   Visits,  alleged 43,  44,  45,  46,  48,  50,  51,  52 

Resland   of  Edrisi 38 

Reylla    Island 19 

Rhode  Island   5,  45,  131.  T33 

Rhys,   Dr.   John,   cited 12 

Rice,   wild    48,  56-58,  127,  135,  136,  138 

Richmond  County,  Nova  Scotia 112 

Ringerike    rune-stone    60,  160 

Rink,  H.  J.,  cited 33,  39,  43,  44,  91,  95,  109,  120,  140 

Roanoke  massacre   149 

Robinson,  Captain   144 

Roc,   The    15 

Rockall,  peak  of    23 

Roo,  P.  de,  cited 14 

Rosselli   ( Pedro,  Petrus) ,  map,  considered 19 

Rouen    74 

Routes   of  crossing  Atlantic 8,  9 

Runic  inscriptions   (certain  or  apochryphal) 43,  44,  45,  46,  48,  50,  53 

Rune  stone  48,  50,  53 

Ruysch    map    considered 33 

Sable    Island    156 

Saga,  Bear  Island  to  Straumey 101,  102 

experiences  on  and  near  Straumey 102,  103 

expedition  to  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence 104,  105 

expedition  to  Hop   124-126 

of  Eric  the  Red 56,  64,  65,  68,  74,  no,  in,  119,  129,  143,  161,  162,  166 

of  Eric  the  Red  analyzed 78-81 

Flateybook  Wineland 64,  65,  66,  68,  70,  71,  74,  116,  143,  162 

of  the  Heath-slayings   31,  166 

of  Olaf  Tryggvasori   66,  74,  143 

of  Thorfinn  Karlsefni 56,  64,  65,  66,  68,  74,  no,  ill,   119,  129, 

143,  157,  161,  162,  166 

of   Thorgisl 82 

Thorhall  the  Hunter 103 

Thorhall's  verses  and  departure 103 

withdrawal  from  Wineland,  and  Markland  episode 105 

Sagas 2,  21,  56,  59,  64,  65,  66,  67,  68,  76,  77,  78,  79,  80,  81,  82,  85,  129 

(general  review)    76-78 

Saghalien  people    3,  147 

Saint  Andrews   52 

Saint   Anna    19 

Saint   Brandan    13-16,  159 

Saint  Croix,  New  Brunswick 122,  132 


NO.    IQ  NORSE   VISITS   TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  2Og 

PAGE 

Saint  George,  New  Brunswick 120 

Saint  John,  New  Brunswick 52 

Saint  John   Island 109,  155,  156 

Saint  John  River,   New   Brunswick 6,  118,  121 

Saint  Johns,   Newfoundland 114 

Saint  Lawrence  Basin    6,  92,  154 

Saint  Lawrence,  Gulf  of 5,  22,  23,  29,  37,  52,  57,  62,  63,  69,  109,  no, 

in,  162,  170 

Saint  Lawrence  River 6,  23,  121 

Saint  Malo 14,  15 

Saint   Mary's    Bay 124 

Saint  Michael's  Island 10 

Saint   Patrick    27 

Saintsbury,   George,  mentioned 91 

Sakonnet  River  or  Strait 45,  136,  137 

Salvagio    ( Saluaga)    Island 19,  21 

Santorem,  Atlas  of 19 

Sargasso    Sea    1 1 

Satanaxio   (Satanta),  Island 19,  25,  26 

Saxons     9 

Schoolcraft,  H.  R.,  cited 44,  141,  157 

Sculpture,  Chinese  and  Cambodian 7 

Sea-fishing    124 

Sea    of    Darkness 18,  174 

Sea-shores 4,  69,  80,  102,  113-116,  135,  137,  159,  160,  163,  164,  168 

Seal    Cove    119 

Seals    125,   126,   162 

Selim    of    Barbary 42 

Settlements 5,  50,  58,   13.8,   169 

Shaler,  Nathaniel  S.,  cited 5,  9,  1 14,  148 

Shell-heaps     50 

Shipbuilding,    ancient 9 

Ships  of  the  Norsemen 100,  101,  108,  1 12,  159 

Shoals    117,  136,  137 

Shoshonean   family    3,  5,  6 

Sinclair,   Earl    38 

Siouan    family    3,  5 

Skeleton  in  armor 44 

Skene,  W.  R,  cited 12 

Skin  boats,  Indian  and  Eskimo 139,  150-157 

Skrellings  or  Skrselings 28,  54,  59,  87,  109,  127,  139,  141,  142,  143,  144, 

145,  149,  151,  152,  154,  155,  157,  158,  161,  166 

Slafter,  Rev.  Mr.,  cited 113 

Slaves    in    Iceland 32 

Sleds,   Eskimo    139,  151 

Slings,    use    of 139,  154-157 

Smith,  J.  T.,  cited 54 

Snsefelsness    ,  .no 


21 0  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS   COLLECTIONS  VOL.    5Q 

PAGE 

Snorri   the   Priest 31  j  59 

Snorri    Thorbrandsson    60,  63,  151,  158 

Snorri    Thorfinnsson    59,  60,  63,  72 

Snorri  Thorfinnsson's  birth  in  America 86,  87,  104 

Snorri  Thorfinnsson's  pedigree 85 

Sommart,    island    of 16 

Soto,  de,  in  Carolina 149 

South    America    24,  25,  146,  156,  174 

peopling   of    7,  8 

Souriquois    ( Micmac)    Indians 5,  120 

Spain 9,  24 

Spaniards  of  Canaries 16 

Spanish,  Chilian  35 

explorers    53,  171 

searchers  for  De  Soto 49 

Speculum    regale    143 

Speed  of  ships 107,  108,  112 

Spencer,  Herbert,  cited 157 

Spoils  of  Annwn 12 

Standish,  iMiles,   mentioned 157 

Stefansson   map    (1590) 29,  38,  62,  no,  in,  135 

Stephens,  J.  L.,  cited 10 

Stephens,   Th.,   cited 35,  36,  37 

Storm,  Dr.  G.,  cited 28,  39,  55,  61,  62,  68,  70,  71,  75,  87,  92,  107,  109, 

112,  120,  130,  143,  152,  168,  172 

Storm-driven  mariners   8,  21,  69,  89,  163,  169 

Stone   giants    53 

Strachey,  W.,  cited 4,  35,  57,  58,  93,  120,  127,  133,  145,  161 

Strait  of  Cabot  23,  no,  171 

Strand   oats    94,  95,  132,  133 

Straumey    69,  87,  1 12,  123,  124,  130,  139,  162,  164 

Straumfiord 69,  73,  74,  112,  117-119,  123,  124,  129,  130,  139,  162,  164 

Streams,  ocean   1 17,  1 18,  124 

Sturlunga  Saga   (Vigfusson's  preface  to) 59 

Sunken  land  of  Bus 17 

Susquehanna   Indians    145,  148 

Sweyn,  King  58 

Talbot    County,    Md 154 

Taliessin     r 12 

Tampico     141 

Taunton    River    44,  46,  136,  137 

Teneriffe 14,   15,  25,  169 

Terciera    24,  25 

Thalbitzer,  V.,  cited 6,  39,  73,  109,  140,  143 

Thevet  cosmographer  I0 

Thomas,   C,   cited 7 

Thorbiorg    82 

Thorbiorn  Vifilsson   32,  60,  67,  81 


NO.    19  NORSE   VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA BABCOCK  211 

PAGE 

Thorbrand   Snorrason    49,  63,  155,  158 

Thorfinn,  Earl  of  the  Orkneys 28,  29 

Thorfinn    Karlse.fni     35,  48,  50,  54,  69,  97,  150,  151,  167,  169 

discoveries   by    63,  116,  170,  173,  174,  175 

expedition  to  Hop 124-139 

genealogy  of    *. 85 

marries    Gudrid    70 

Saga  of   26,  56,  66,  124 

voyage   to    Wineland   interpreted 106-124 

Thorgunna  of  Frodis-Water 88 

Thorgunna   of  the   Hebrides 88 

Thorhall  the  Hunter 102,  103,  104,  no,  in,  122,  123,  124 

Thori   the   Eastman 67,  69 

Thorkell    Gellison    28,  30,  58,  152,  165 

Thorkel  of  Heriulfsness    82 

Thorlac   Runolfsson    59 

Thorstein    Ericsson    52,  69,  72,  83,  84,  170 

Thorstein  the  Swarthy 83,  84 

Thorvald   Ericsson    28,  35,  49,  69,  70,  72,  129 

Thor-worship      102,  122 

Tidal  measurements  along  American  coast 116,  117,  118,  124,  137 

Tierra    del    Fuego 156 

Tinne  Indians    109 

Titicaca,    Lake    156 

Tiverton   inscription    45 

Todd's    Point    118 

Tools  common  to  Scandinavia  and  N.  E.  America 51 

Torfseus    74,  173 

Toscanelli    9,  20 

Tower  of  Norumbega 46 

Traill,  Catherine  Parr,  cited 135 

Trumbull,  J.  H.,  cited 138 

Turner  on  Eskimo  stature 144 

Tusket    Islands    119,  126 

Upernavik     143 

Umiaks    153 

Uniped    28,  105,  129,  130,  131,  162 

Ungava    143 

Uplift  of  coast 1 14 

Usumacinta  Valley    6 

Utopia   Lake    52 

Vaca,  Cabeza  de 41 

Vencidor,   The    107 

Venezuela     , .  154 

Verrazano 49,  57.  128,  132,  136,  138,  145 

Vespucius     165,  174 


212  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    59 

PAGE 

Vim   32,  67 

Vigfusson,    G.,    cited 28,  29,  30,  34,  58,  66,  75,  82 

Viking   ships    TOO 

Vikings     98-100 

Vinland   (Wineland)    ....I,  4,  26,  29,  30,  35,  43,  46,  52,  53-70,  72,  74,  83, 

87,  89,  101-104,  110-112,  123,  131,  132,  133,  142,  147,  159-173 

Vinland   hit   Go'Sa 166 

Vinlandia    63 

Virginia    4,  29,  47,  58,  74,  113,  132,  149 

Vivaldi  brothers,  voyages  of n 

Vlandoren    25 

Volcanoes     15 

Voyage  of  Bran 12 

Voyage  of  Maelduin 12 

Voyage  of  St.  Brandan 13,  14,  15 

Voyages    of    the    Northmen 1,  43,  54,  58,  61,  64,  66,  70,  73,  75,  87-96, 

112,  117,  124,  128,  129,  139,  142,  159,  161,  169,  173 

Wallace,  A.  R 114 

Wallace,  D , 143 

Wallace,  James,   cited 8,  177 

Wallace,    W.    S 108 

Walrus  tusks,  tribute  in 39 

Wampanoags  of  Rhode  Island 45 

Washington  City   4,  48,  93 

Watertown,  Mass 47 

Weare,  G.  E.,  cited 155 

Weimar   Map    19 

Weirs     47 

Welsh   Indians    (alleged) 35 

Welsh   navigation    37 

West  Indies 21 

Westall    10 

Whalers 2 

Whales     .' 121 

Whitbourne,   Richard    108,  109,  153 

White  Men's  Land 27,  30,  165 

Whitesark    67 

Wicomico  Indians,  The 145,  146 

"Wild  rice"  in  America 48,  56-58,  127,  135,  136,  138 

"  Wild  sea  "  border  of  Wineland 63 

"  Wild   wheat  "    94,  95 

Wineland   or   Vinland.  ...I,  4,  26,  29,  30,  35,  43,  46,  52-70,  72,  74,  83,  87, 

89,  101-104,  110-112,  123,  131,  132,  133,  142,  147  159-173 

Wineland   Voyages    67,  131,  159,  160,  162,  167,  169 

Wine-making  without  appliances 93 

Winsor,    Justin,    cited 7,  109 

Wonderstrands,  the    69,  80,  102,  104,  112,  116 

Wynken  de  Worde 13 


NO.    19  NORSE   VISITS    TO    NORTH    AMERICA — BABCOCK  213 

PAGE 

Yahgans    156 

Yarmouth,   marked   rocks   at 52 

Yukon  Eskimo    144 

Zea  mays    ( Indian  corn) 95,  133 

Zeno  narrative    8,  17,  37,  150,  168 

Zichmi  of  Frisland 38 

Zimmer,    Dr.,    cited 12 

Zodiac  signs  in  Mayan  cities 7 

Zuan  da  Napoli  map 1 1,  16,  18 


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